EPL 2016-17, Chelsea 5-1 Sunderland: 5 talking points

The newly crowned Premier League champions Chelsea thrashed the bottom-most placed Sunderland on the closing day of 2016/17 season with a resounding scoreline of 5-1. The Londoners showed exactly what makes them the champions in a game, which was of no real consequence in the grand scheme of things.

Apart from the opening first 10 minutes, the balance on the extreme ends of the league table justified itself, as Chelsea dominated and threatened with every move as Sunderland collapsed towards the end of the game. All the usual suspects were on point to compound misery on the club which had the worst top-flight season in their history.

Sunderland sorely missed Jermain Defoe but still managed to score in the 3rd minute before the usual downward momentum set in with a Willian equaliser in the 8^th minute. Perhaps, the most striking moment of the first half came with John Terry’s guard of honour for his last Premier League game, in the 26th minute, a befitting gesture for the Chelsea captain.

Here are the talking points from the game at Old Trafford:

#1 John Terry’s other guard of honour and passing the baton

The mid-game guard of honour to John Terry on the 26th-minute mark. What a moment!

With the title already wrapped up, Chelsea’s biggest motivation going into the final game of the season was to cement a 30-win record on their books. Their evergreen captain John Terry had already celebrated his fifth Premier league title with a goal against Watford last weekend, which was made merrier by the guard of honour he received for his 20-year service to the club. And there was still more to come.

In the 26^th minute in the game, Sunderland’s goalkeeper Jordan Pickford threw out the ball as the 4^th official announced a substitution and John Terry was to come off for Gary Cahill. In that buildup, all the Chelsea player’s gathered to give him another guard of honour right there on the field as the enigmatic captain made his way to the byline and took off his armband and put it on Cahill’s arm.

Though the game was tied at 1-1 and there were slight protests from some Sunderland players for the ostentatious behaviour, the moment in itself reminded us all about how certain players leave an insurmountable legacy behind them and we can always continue to cherish them. In his final Premier League game, Terry poetically passed on the baton of captaincy to Gary Cahill.

#2 The uncertainty over Diego Costa’s future and a bright spark on bench

Michy Batshuayi proved his worth coming off the bench once again

It was fitting that Antonio Conte started with his first choice striker for the last game of the season. However, Diego Costa couldn’t justify his starting place yet again. The striker has been linked away from the London club all throughout the year with the Chinese clubs sniffing every now and then. And his lacklustre performance and general demeanour just added fuel to the speculation if the Spaniard had played his last Premier League game for the club?

If that were true, does Conte need to focus on buying someone to replace him or not? To that extent, an often neglected forward on the bench has been answering the question for the past couple of weeks and did so again on the day.

Michy Batshuayi scored against Watford last weekend and summed up his last game of the season with a smartly taken brace after coming on for Costa. His flair and willingness to go the extra mile should make Conte really reconsider if the replacement for Costa is already here or not. Batshuayi shows a lot of promise and Conte may have just understood how to get the best out of the often-ignored striker.

#3 Sunderland’s shambolic season finally ends

A disappointing end to Pickford’s break-through season as he conceded five goals

Sunderland scored early in the third minute via a set-piece, courtesy of Javier Manquillo. However, it took Chelsea only five more minutes to equalise from a powerful strike from Willian and the champions never stopped probing after that, exposing the frailty in Black Cats’ defence which has been exposed way too many times this season. The thrashing was expected, seeing how the two teams were on the extreme end of the league spectrum.

Jordan Pickford, a truly admirable find in an overall failure of a season, couldn’t seem to find his bearing either, making a defensive blunder which cost his team the third goal. To compound their misery, they had to play without their star man, Jermain Defoe to further bring into focus the amount of do-over David Moyes has in on his hands if he is tasked with the responsibility of battling it out in the Championship.

However, an important summer lies ahead of them with a number of jobs on the line.

#4 Hazard dazzles as usual, but with an eye on the FA cup final

Eden Hazard, the phenomenal no, 10.

The Chelsea team played like deserved champions and ran riot over a perpetually troubled Sunderland defence. Among the usual suspects, Eden Hazard’s performance stood out amongst all others, yet again.

It is sometimes hard to imagine that this same player, scored his first league goal for the last season in April of 2016. Since then, under the new management, the Belgian playmaker has been like a Pheonix reborn from ashes, and today was no different as he terrorised the back four of Sunderland and even got a goal to his name to show for his efforts. His link-up play with Willian and Cesc Fabregas shows what in store Chelsea might have in mind for Arsenal next week.

Antonio Conte wisely took him off in the second half, in anticipation of the FA Cup final.

#5 The squad depth issue

The irreplaceable wings of this Chelsea side. Where are the reinforcements?

Now that Chelsea have become the deserved champions and will be competing in Europe next season, this summer transfer window will be an opportune time for Antonio Conte to address the issue of his squad depth.

Though the attacking side seems just fine, apart from the uncertainty of Costa, the wingbacks are severely understaffed in terms of back-ups. Marcos Alonso and Victor Moses have been instrumental in club’s success this season and Chelsea’s frailty without these two playing the wingback role is more than evident.

Even with a solid back three and an enforcer of the calibre of N’Golo Kante in the middle, the wingback positions provide the real linkage between the attack and defence and to surmount a serious challenge in Europe, Conte needs to find players to at least play second fiddle to the power horses of Alonso and Moses.

Unless Chelsea address this issue at the very least, it might end up being the usual case of English teams failing in Europe. Only time and a busy next two months will tell how things will pan out but immediately the FA Cup final looms over the London club and Conte would be more than happy to have a well-rested squad for the same.