ON THE ROAD AGAINST THE BIG SIX

Sunderland are about to enter their most difficult set of fixtures on paper since there return to the top flight. Between now and the January 7 we play three of the ‘big six’ including Manchester City twice, the first league Wear-Tyne Derby since 2016, as well as a long trip down to Brighton before Christmas.

With Sunderland already having played two of the big six away from home already this campaign (Chelsea and Manchester United), we still have to play four with two of which happening this week, but when was the last time the Black Cats won away to these sides in the league.

Stamford Bridge (Chelsea 1-2 Sunderland- 25^th October 2025)

Getting the obvious out of the way, Sunderland’s most recent triumph against the big six happened just a few weeks ago as Le Bris’ side superbly overturned a 1-0 deficit through Wilson Isidor and a 93^rd minute winner from Chemsdine Talbi, with a lot of the plaudits going to Brian Brobbey whose hold up play created a chance out of nothing. Although our overall record at Stamford Bridge has not been particularly strong in recent times, we have had some pretty rememberable victories there, with a 2-1 win during the great escape under Gus Poyet and then a 3-0 hammering in 2010 which is probably best remembered for Nedum Onuoha’s solo goal as a centre half and then Bolo Zenden’s dad dancing after Asamoah Gyan doubled the advantage.

Old Trafford (Manchester United 0-1 Sunderland- 3rd May 2014)

With the great escape complete, Poyet’s side continued their fantastic end to the 2013/14 season with a rare win at Old Trafford, the first time we had done so since 1968 in the league, having beat them in a penalty shootout to progress to the Capital One Cup final (now Carabao Cup) just a few months prior. Sebastian Larsson scored the only goal of the game against a United side that where at the time managed by caretaker manager Ryan Giggs. Since then we have played them four more times at the Theatre of Dreams, with an aggregate score of 10-1, however our only goal in those games was an absolute beauty from Fabio Borini.

White Hart Lane/Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (Tottenham 1-2 Sunderland- 23^rd August 2008)

Sunderland’s trip to North London in January will be our first trip since they moved to their new 60,000-seater stadium from White Hart Lane. We have not had much joy when visiting Tottenham and you have to go back to 2008 for our last win, beating Juande Ramos’ side 2-1 through goals from Kieran Richardson and Djibril Cisse. Since then, Sunderland have collected just one point away at Tottenham with seven defeats in our last eight visits. This season though with Thomas Frank at the helm they have managed just five points at home with Wolves the only side to pick up less (one).

Maine Road/Etihad Stadium (Manchester City 0-1 Sunderland- 17^th January 1998)

The Black Cats have never actually won at the Etihad, with our last win away at Manchester City being back in 1998. The only goal of the game at Maine Road came through a Kevin Phillips header in the First Division, well before City’s rise into the powerhouse they are now.

We did have a brief period of joy against the blue side of Manchester, beating them at home in the 2011/12, 2012/13 and 2013/14 season. A win at the Etihad on Saturday would be something special with this arguably the strongest City side we will have ever played.

Anfield (Liverpool 0-1 Sunderland- 1^st October 1983)

A win on Wednesday night would be even more remarkable, with our last win at Anfield coming a whopping 42 years ago thanks to a penalty from Gary Rowell. To put it into perspective, Kenny Dalglish was playing, Regis Le Bris was seven years old and Karma Chameleon was top of the charts. You will probably never get a better chance though than Wednesday, with Arne Slot under immense pressure due to nine defeats in 13 games in all competitions. However, I think its fair enough to say a point would be a fantastic result, never mind all three.

Highbury/Emirates Stadium (Arsenal 1-2 Sunderland- 5^th November 1983)

Ironically our last win at Arsenal in the league was also in 1983. Uptown Girl by Billy Joel was now top of the charts but Regis Le Bris was very much still seven years old. Ian Atkins and Colin West scored for the visitors with Tony Woodcock scoring for the Gunners. We beat Arsenal in the League Cup at Highbury 3-2 in 2002 though, with goals from Kevin Kyle, Marcus Stewart and Darren Williams in a game played in front of just under 20,000 fans. Our most recent visit was also a League Cup game, losing 5-1 as a League One side under Lee Johnson. With Arsenal firmly title favourites, I cannot imagine it will be an easy place to go to when we meet in February at the Emirates.