Chelsea, deprived of Didier Drogba, beat a passive Sunderland team without panache or excessive difficulty.

This was a game that posed three cogent questions. First, how would Chelsea fare without Drogba? Second, would Sunderland be inhibited rather than inspired by their demanding manager, Roy Keane? Third, how would Andriy Shevchenko perform, now that he has been dragged from outer darkness to take Drogba’s place up front, all alone, when it was widely expected the role would go to the Peru international, Claudio Pizarro?

So far as Drogba was concerned, there was a surprise shortly before kick-off when it was announced that the powerful and arguably irreplaceable Ivory Coast centre-forward had undergone a knee operation.

One way or another, Chelsea knew they were doomed to lose a player hugely important to their success with the Africa Cup of Nations looming in the new year. Drogba’s fitness for that tournament is now in doubt.

Chelsea were also without Michael Essien yesterday, but he seems sure to go to the African tournament to play for Ghana. At Villa Park, Harry Redknapp faces a similar problem. Players such as Sulley Muntari, so prominent in yesterday’s game and a goalscorer to boot, will also be playing for Ghana.

As for Roy Keane, you wondered when he was appointed manager of Sunderland whether his fierce perfectionism, the demands he makes not only on himself but on the rest of his team, could have a negative effect on players, few of whom could ever hope to reach his heights of ability. Last season things worked out well enough for Sunderland who were promoted to the Premier League. Lately, however, not least when they crashed 7-1 at Everton, there have been voices that the Sunderland players have indeed been somewhat overwhelmed by Keane’s forceful personality.

Shevchenko was bought by Chelsea for £30m from Milan but the mountain of cash has produced a mere molehill of performance. He has not been playing regulalry and there have been indications that he may even end next season in Major League Soccer in America.

Yesterday it seemed to demand a great deal from Shevchenko to leave him as the sole spearhead, but from the beginning he looked active and effective. The game had scarcely begun when he sent a neat pass to Salomon Kalou to spark a movement that forced Sunderland’s reserve keeper, Darren Ward, to somewhat nervously punch the ball out. Ward is displacing the Scotland international keeper, Craig Gordon, who cost a cool £9m, but seems to be suffering from a crisis of confidence.

After six minutes, Kalou headed solidly against the bar from Joe Cole’s corner. But on 23 minutes, it was Kalou who would send over the left-wing cross that Shevchenko converted with a powerful header.

Sunderland eventually had a shot on goal in the 33rd minute, coming from their towering lone striker Kenwyne Jones with a low, left-footed shot onto which Carlo Cudicini threw himself.

But Chelsea were comfortably in command. Their manager, Avram Grant, deployed the England international right-winger Shaun Wright-Phillips as an inside-right. Quite what Steve Sidwell, starting on the bench, thought of that, one can only guess. A key figure last season in the Reading central midfield, he chose to move to Chelsea in the summer on a free transfer. Reading plainly miss him, Chelsea seldom use him. No doubt the move has been lucrative for him, but there are other satisfactions even now in football.

Early in the second half, when the ball seemed to be running out of play on the Chelsea left, Shevchenko, with a dynamic burst, retrieved it, went past his man and sent in a cross that could well have brought a goal.

It was a long time before we would see any more drama at either end. On 75 minutes however, Chelsea would score a soft second. Frank Lampard’s free kick from the left provoked what referee Peter Walton deemed a foul in the box by Danny Higginbotham pulling Alex’s shirt. A penalty was given and Lampard, who by and large on this wet afternoon played what you might call a senatorial role, deep in midfield, when he might have been expected to advance more often, put away the spot-kick with no difficulty.

Sunderland’s cup was well and truly full when Liam Miller, after a challenge by Pizarro, stupidly pushed him in the face and was consequently sent off.

It was a comfortable but inglorious victory for Chelsea, yet Drogba will surely be seriously missed.

Player ratings

Chelsea: Cudicini 6, Belletti 6, Alex 6, Terry 7, A Cole 7, J Cole 7 (Sidwell 85min), Wright-Phillips 6, Lampard 6, Mikel 6, Kalou 6 (Pizarro 66min), Shevchenko 7 Star man: J Cole (Chelsea)

Sunderland: Ward 6, Halford 6, McShane 6, Higginbotham 6, Collins 6, Miller 6, Etuhu 6, Leadbitter 6 (Stokes 70min), Whitehead 6, Wallace 6, Jones 6 (Murphy 67min)