One word to describe this: massive.
It felt that way inside the stadium before the game, and it felt like it at full time as Sunderland ran out 1-0 winners against Xabi Alonso’s Chelsea thanks to Enzo Le Fée’s first half penalty.
Regis Le Bris made seven changes from the team that lost to Dinamo Zagreb on Thursday, with Thomas Meunier, Nordi Mukiele, Luke O’Nien, Reinildo Mandava, Le Fée, Chemsdine Talbi and Brian Brobbey coming into the starting eleven. A further change was enforced just two minutes
in as Granit Xhaka went down injured and was replaced by Jules Ahoka.
Sunderland started brightly, looking to take the game to Chelsea, pressing and harrying the Blues whenever they tried to play out from the back.
Brobbey gave Levi Colwill a torrid time in the first half, constantly getting in behind the defender or holding him off to bring others in to play. Talbi ran at Marco Palestra time and time again, giving the Lads something we’ve desperately missed so far this season, and hopefully whatever happened between Talbi and Le Bris is done and dusted and we now start to see the Moroccan more consistently in the Premier League.
There was a scare early on in the first half as a Chelsea appeal for a penalty was checked for what felt like an eternity by VAR.
It did look like a foul by O’Nien on Cole Palmer but luckily the VAR decided the incident occurred outside the box, and there’ll be no arguments from anyone of a Sunderland persuasion, although I would imagine the majority were in shock that Jarred Gillett gave the decision our way — and those that were would’ve been even more shocked when he pointed to the spot at the other end after Colwill pulled and tripped Brobbey in the box.
Another good long ball led to Brobbey getting behind Colwill and he was brought down whilst bearing down on goal. As per, Le Fée was on hand to slot the penalty into the bottom left corner, sending Mike Penders the wrong way and giving Sunderland the lead for just the second time in the Premier League this season.
Sunderland had a few chances other than the penalty in the first half, with Brobbey getting on the end of another long ball and running past Colwill and Wesley Fofana and just putting the ball wide from the angle, and another chance was created by Talbi, who put in a wicked cross with the Dutchman just not able to direct the ball goalwards.
Half time came and for the first time this season, Sunderland went in with a lead to protect.
Xabi Alonso made an attacking change, with Estevao coming on for Levi Colwill and Moises Caicedo dropping deeper into the defensive line. Estevao looked lively and the player most likely to create something for Chelsea; his pace and dribbling making life difficult for Reinildo, but the Mozambique man dealt with it well and came out on top of the duel more often than not throughout the second half.
Sunderland kept Chelsea at bay and Robin Roefs had very little to do in the second half, other than take a few goal kicks. Chelsea, whilst having a lot of possession, never really looked like scoring and struggled to get past a stubborn home defence and create anything clear-cut.
More attacking changes came for the Blues, with Malo Gusto replacing Palestra, Geovany Quenda replacing Pep Chavarria, Danny Welbeck coming on for Pedro Neto when the Portuguese began to lose his head, and Emmanuel Emegha coming on for returning hometown hero Jordan Henderson.
By the end of the game Chelsea had just one proper defender on the pitch, but this didn’t make a difference as the Black Cats held out for the win.
For Sunderland, Wilson Isidor replaced a tiring Brobbey and spent most of his time on the pitch chasing down defenders, while Chris Rigg and Nilson Angulo replaced Talbi and Le Fée, also spending most of their time on the pitch helping the Lads shut up shop and see out the game.
A quick word on the referee Gillett as well, after what was quite possibly the most horrendous officiating seen in the Premier League this season.
At one point, Brobbey was penalised for simply turning and holding off Caicedo, and O’Nien was penalised for a perfectly good tackle in the closing stages. There were also multiple instances of soft free kicks being given and a host of poor decisions, with both sets of fans seemingly taking turns to direct abuse at the Australian. If this is part of the gold standard of refereeing in this country, it’s no wonder our officiating is in the state it’s in.
But, back to the positives. This was a massive, massive win.
Le Bris probably saved his job; the Lads picked up a huge three points that lifted us off the bottom of the table going into the international break, and Ahoka showed everyone just how good he is with yet another imperious performance.
Players like Ahoka don’t come round too often at Sunderland, so enjoy him while you can, as if he continues on his current trajectory, it won’t be long before some real powerhouses start to come in for him.
Fingers crossed we come out of the international break with our stars intact, and this result acts as a catalyst to kickstart our season. HA’WAY THE LADS!
