Petr Cech has said that Wilkins exit is not to blame for the club’s poor form. Goals from Nedum Onuoha, Asamoah Gyan and Danny Welbeck earned Sunderland their first away win of the season and sent Chelsea tumbling to their first home defeat since last March. Wilkins was told last week by chief executive Ron Gourlay that his contract would not be renewed.

“There are things that happen in football everyday,” said Petr Cech. “Managers come and go and first-team coaches and players can leave suddenly. So we are all used to things like that. But it’s not an excuse. It was just that our performance wasn’t up to standard. We didn’t play well as a team.

Sunderland outplayed the league leaders throughout and Chelsea coach Carlo Ancelotti labelled their poor performance as the worst since he took charge last year.

Chelsea were without captain John Terry with a back injury and Alex (knee) and their replacements Paulo Ferreira and Branislav Ivanovic could not cope with Welbeck and Gyan.