Chelsea began the post-Jose Mourinho era with a 3-1 win over Sunderland at Stamford Bridge to ease away from the Premier League’s bottom three on Saturday while Leicester City moved five points clear at the top.
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Goals from Branislav Ivanovic, Pedro and Oscar gave the defending Premier League champions their first win in four league games and left Sunderland, who replied through Fabio Borini, rooted in the relegation zone.
Guus Hiddink returned to Chelsea for a second spell as manager today, hired until the end of the season with the tough task of turning round the struggling Premier League champions following Jose Mourinho’s firing.
Guus Hiddink faces a battle to get Chelsea’s fans back on side after being confirmed as the club’s interim manager.
A statement on the Chelsea website read: “The owner and the board welcome back a coach with a wealth of top-level experience and success, including his previous spell with the club in 2009 when we lifted the FA Cup”.
Chelsea were 2-0 up after just 13 minutes courtesy of Ivanovic’s header and Pedro’s emphatic finish, while a third arrived from Oscar’s 50th-minute penalty after Costel Pantilimon brought down Willian.
“I want to gather as much information as possible”. We’re not used to being here – the last ten years we’ve had a lot of good times. Some players were no longer giving 100 per cent and that’s not a nice thing to say about any group of players but I think that’s what happened at that football club.
But Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce highlighted the quandary for Chelsea players within minutes of Mourinho’s firing on Thursday.
“I find myself toiling with the fact that we put one team out that plays in that system, does really well at Palace and Arsenal, but today it never worked whatsoever”.
“Jose has invited me out for a meal next week and our relationship is excellent”, Holland said, as per the Daily Mail.
Hiddink will watch Saturday’s visit of Sunderland from the stands, sat near to Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, with coaches Steve Holland and Eddie Newton in charge of the team.
Of the three men accused of being “rats” on one banner, Fabregas was the only player to make his feelings towards Mourinho public in the immediate aftermath of his sacking by writing a message on Instagram that read: “Thank you for all you have done for me”.
‘But rightly so – they’re disappointed and so are we.
“It was on the cards quite honestly”, said Peter Fletcher, 67, who has been watching Chelsea since the late 1960s.
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Barnes was joined on Sky by another Liverpool legend, Graeme Souness, who believes that Chelsea only acted in the same way as any other big European club would.
