Avram Grant praised Ukranian hitman Andrei Shevchenko for his headed opener which lead Chelsea onto a 2-0 win over Sunderland.
Shevchenko praised for pleased boss
Chelsea manager Avram Grant has praised Ukranian hitman Andrei Shevchenko for his headed opener which set Chelsea up for a 2-0 win over Sunderland.
The under-fire striker has struggled to pay back his £30m price tag but he was the lucky one against the Black Cats when he found himself unmarked at the back post and made no mistake for 1-0.
"It was very important for Shevchenko to score. I'm happy he scored. He played well today, which is good for us. Shevchenko is a great striker, he knows how to score goals and is intelligent," Grant said.
"He has now scored four goals this season. Last season he scored 16, yet everyone is disappointed. He's been scoring since he was a little child and he did it for us today."
Chelsea bossed the match from start to finish with Sunderland's goal coming under siege for long spells.
But it took Frank Lampard's 79th-minute penalty to kill off Sunderland after the controversial decision was given to punish Danny Higginbotham's weak pull on Alex.
Slapping
Sunderland were then reduced to 10 men after an off-the-ball collision which saw Sunderland's Liam Miller sent off for slapping substitute Claudio Pizarro.
"We played very good football today. We moved the ball very well. It was patient play from us because it was not easy to play against Sunderland. They defended with a lot of players," the Israeli said.
"Our possession in the last two games has been more than 70% which is almost a record.
"We deserved to be 3-0 ahead at half-time because we dominated the match."
