Chelsea have pulled far ahead of Liverpool and Arsenal.

Fabregas's solitary goal helped manager Conte's team defeat hosts Sunderland, further solidifying their position at the top of the Premier League.

Goal: Fabregas 40'.

Sunderland prepared meticulously for their match against the league leaders. Manager David Moyes personally attended Chelsea's most recent game in London – a 1-0 win against West Brom on December 11th. Moyes' observations from that game proved effective yesterday, December 14th, at the Stadium of Light, as Sunderland played one of their best Premier League games of the season. The Black Cats defended resolutely, capitalizing on counter-attacking opportunities, causing Chelsea to sweat on several occasions.

Fabregas shone at the right moment to help Chelsea extend their winning streak. Photo: Reuters.

However, the team nicknamed "The Black Cats" still couldn't get a point against their much stronger opponent. Fabregas's beautiful curling shot in the 40th minute gave Chelsea a 1-0 victory, extending their winning streak in the Premier League to 10 matches. Thanks to this result, coupled with Arsenal's slip-up at Everton in the earlier match, Conte's team solidified their position at the top of the table, with six points more than Arsenal and Liverpool, who both have 34 points.

The 1-0 victory for Chelsea didn't fully reflect the situation at the Stadium of Light, where the visitors completely dominated. They held possession for 66%, had more than double the number of shots (19 compared to 8), and twice as many shots on target (6 compared to 3) as Sunderland. If it weren't for the excellent saves by home goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, denying shots from Marcos Alonso and Willian, Chelsea would have won by a much larger margin.

One of the keys to Chelsea's recent impressive winning streak is their consistency, with Conte keeping the same starting lineup in eight of the nine matches before facing Sunderland. Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp recently suggested that Chelsea would collapse if Eden Hazard or Diego Costa – two key players who have been playing consistently lately – were injured. Therefore, the away trip to the Stadium of Light becomes an opportunity to test Klopp's assessment, as well as that of many other experts.

Chelsea struggled for much of the game due to the lack of Hazard's creativity. Photo: Reuters.

Hazard did not travel to Sunderland due to an injury sustained in the win against West Brom. Willian was chosen to replace the Belgian star, while in midfield, Matic was rested and Fabregas returned to the starting lineup after coming off the bench in the last match.

Chelsea initially struggled due to the lack of Hazard's creativity. For much of the first half, they struggled to find a way to break down Sunderland's seven-man, deep-lying defense. But at what seemed like the deadlock, the visitors showed their depth with a moment of brilliance from Fabregas. Against a solid defensive wall, the Spanish midfielder somehow found space to unleash a stunning curling shot into the far bottom corner, beating goalkeeper Pickford in the 40th minute.

Sunderland desperately needed all three points to escape bottom of the table. But against the league's best-performing opponent, that proved an impossible task. They only managed to neutralize Diego Costa – Chelsea's most dangerous striker – and minimize the damage, but failed to create enough scoring opportunities against Chelsea.

Sunderland successfully neutralized Diego Costa, but prevented Chelsea from securing a victory. Photo: Reuters.

It wasn't until the end of the match that Sunderland had a truly clear chance with a dangerous left-footed shot from Patrick van Aanholt in the third minute of added time. But Thibaut Courtois made a superb save to keep Chelsea clean, preserving the 1-0 lead until the end of the game.

Starting lineup:

Sunderland(5-3-1-1): Pickford; Jones (Love 59,), Kone, Djilobodji, O'Shea, Van Aanholt; Januzaj, Denayer, Kirchhoff (Larsson 57); Borini (Khazri 82); Defoe

Unused substitutes: Mannone, Asoro, Maja, Honeyman

Yellow cards: Defoe, O'Shea

Chelsea(3-4-3): Courtois; Azpilicueta, Luiz, Cahill; Moses (Ivanovic 90), Kante, Fabregas, Alonso; Willian, Costa, Pedro (Matic 75)

Unused substitutes: Begovic, Zouma, Loftus-Cheek, Batshuayi, Chalobah

Goal: Fabregas 40

Yellow cards: Pedro, Moses

Referee: Swarbrick

According to VNE