Gary Cahill is confident Chelsea have found a new mental strength to go with their rich array of football talent as they set the pace in the Premier League title race.
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The Blues emerged from their trip to Sunderland on Saturday evening with just a point from a hard-fought 0-0 draw, but remain clear at the top of the table.
Manager Jose Mourinho fielded the same starting XI for the third successive game after a 2-0 league win over West Brom and Tuesday night’s 5-0 Champions League demolition of Schalke, but saw them struggle to break down a committed Black Cats outfit.
Nevertheless, they emerged with a third successive clean sheet and a point, and that, in Cahill’s opinion, demonstrated a new attribute.
“I think we are a different side to last year, not just personnel, but mentally I think we are different.
“They made it a scrap, but we matched that and managed to play our football as well,” he said.
“When teams sit back and get back in that shape, it’s very tough. We saw that last year and this was no different.
“But in these sorts of games, if you don’t get the breakthrough, it’s important we don’t lose the game, and it’s a point away from home
Jose Mourinho says it was a fair result against a team that defended very well. #CFC
— Chelsea FC (@chelseafc) November 29, 2014
Not the result we hoped for yesterday, but we keep on fighting! Wednesday next game against Tottenham!… http://t.co/UBTPATeYvD
— Thibaut Courtois (@thibautcourtois) November 30, 2014
Chelsea have now put together an unbeaten run of 20 games since the start of the season, but this was the first in which they had been prevented from scoring.
Mourinho’s troops enjoyed the greater share of the possession at the Stadium of Light, particularly in the first half, but apart from Willian’s 17th-minute shot, which was tipped on to the post by keeper Costel Pantilimon, and another from Branislav Ivanovic which the Romanian blocked with a foot, they created few clear-cut chances.
It proved a frustrating evening for striker Diego Costa, who escaped punishment after appearing to kick out at defender John O’Shea, but then collected his fifth booking of the campaign for catching Wes Brown with an arm as they jumped for a high ball, and he will miss Wednesday’s home clash with Tottenham.
“It was a game in which we needed to defend well. They defended well as well.
“It was exactly what we expected, it was a scrap of a game.”
