CHELSEA PREVIEW

Sunderland make the trip to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea in the Premier League, in a game that has ended up being fifth versus seventh. Both teams sit on the same number of points (14) and have taken a similar number of points from their last five, Chelsea with seven and the Lads with eight. Still, this is our toughest fixture, on paper at least, of the season so far. Here's the important information on our opponents:

FORM

The Blues, as mentioned, have taken seven points from the last possible 15 in the league. Beating Liverpool at home, Nottingham Forest away and drawing with Brentford to achieve that total. The other two matches were defeats to Brighton and Hove Albion and Manchester United, on home soil and on the road respectively. If you include matches in all competitions, the current champions of the world have won four of the last five. Two wins in the Champions League contribute to their good run of form. Those wins came via a 1-0 victory against Benfica and 5-1 drubbing of Ajax. Their most recent league fixture was the win over Forest; Josh Acheampong, Pedro Neto and Reece James all found the net in a 3-0 win, with Malo Gusto being sent off for them late on too.

THE MANAGER

45-year-old Enzo Maresca is currently the man in charge. Maresca was appointed in July 2024 and has overseen 76 games so far. Of those, he’s won 48, drawn 11 and lost 17. The Italian already has two pieces of silverware to show for his time in SW6, winning the Conference League last season before being victorious in the Club World Cup just under two months later. In the final of both competitions, his side won by a three goal margin. Prior to entering the world of coaching, Enzo was a midfielder and began his senior playing days with West Bromwich Albion in 1998. After this, he embarked on a career in Italy, Spain and Greece. Highlights included winning a league title with Juventus and winning two UEFA Cups with Sevilla. The ex-midfielder retired in 2017 and was then appointed the assistant manager of Ascoli in his home country, he then took up the assistant role at his former club Sevilla and then the same role at West Ham United. In 2020, he was made the boss of Manchester City’s U23 side, winning the Premier League 2 in 2021. His first job as the main man was with Parma, he then returned to Man City to become the senior team’s assistant and followed this up with an appointment to manage Leicester City. With Leicester, he won 36 of his 53 matches and took them to the Premier League as champions of the second tier before leaving for his current role. Maresca has one Premier League Manager of the Month award to his name, winning it in September 2024.

KEY PLAYERS

Spain international Robert Sanchez is their number one goalkeeper, keeping three clean sheets in the PL so far this campaign plus one in the CL. Ecuador international Moises Caicedo and Argentina international Enzo Fernandez are their joint-top scorers, with four goals in all competitions this season each. Brazil international Joao Pedro is their current top playmaker, contributing three assists in all competitions. Pedro was a new addition in the summer and Chelsea also brought in the likes of left winger Jamie Gittens, attacking midfielder Alejandro Garnacho and left back Jorrel Hato. Amongst their ranks, they also have striker Marc Guiu, who was with us (briefly) earlier this season.

THE STADIUM 

Stamford Bridge has a capacity of 40,173, making it the 11th biggest stadium in the Premier League. Its architect was Archibald Leitch, who also worked on Anfield, Craven Cottage, the Molineux Stadium, Old Trafford, Villa Park and Selhurst Park, as well as, of course, Roker Park. Opened in 1877, it underwent renovations from 1904-05 and in 1998. The Bridge was once the host of the FA Cup final from 1920-22 and has been used for the semi-finals of the FA Cup before as well as being used as the venue for England games (last in 1932) and for Soccer Aid.

PREDICTION

This is when the fixtures start to get really tough for us, at least on paper, and this is definitely the toughest of the lot so far. They’re in good form, are in Europe’s premier competition and are champions of the world. However they are missing a number of players through injury (including Cole Palmer) have developed a knack for having players sent off recently (three red cards in their last five matches) and have a goalkeeper who doesn’t always make life easy for himself. There are a few reasons to not write this one off but I’m still going to say we lose this one. 2-0 Chelsea.