Sunderland’s last trip to Chelsea was an embarrassing end to a humiliating season. A 5-1 humping, finishing rock bottom of the league, and creating a guard of honour in the 26th minute for John Terry were
just some of the dreadful memories of this day.
Fast forward eight years, and Sunderland prepare to visit that part of West London on the same number of points as our hosts after eight games. If you want to dive into this more, we’re currently one point ahead of Chelsea in the form table for the last five matches.
We’ve had both impressive wins and devastating defeats at Stamford Bridge in the last two decades. In back-to-back visits in 2008 and 2010, we were beaten 5-0 and then 7-2, with the latter result coming during a season when several teams conceded seven goals or more to Chelsea.
The positive visits have been few and far between, with the 2-1 win back in 2014 being the last – and only our third in the 21st century. The 3-0 win back in 2010 will be a favourite for many Sunderland fans, and for good reason. It came during a season where a genuine assault on the European places seemed possible – even if these hopes fizzled away in the New Year.
The Chelsea trip is the first one that has me thinking ‘we’re back in the big time’, with the trip to Manchester United at the start of the month bringing some of these thoughts. Chelsea away is a notoriously hard place to go, and although they aren’t what they used to be when they were winning Premier League titles and the Champions League, Stamford Bridge can still be an intimidating place to go.
During our decade-long stint in the top flight last time around, trips to Chelsea were once daunting. This time, however, it’s easy to conclude that we’ve nothing to fear. This would have been different had we not made a very good start to this season.
Some have referred to the game on Saturday as a free hit, which it is to some degree, following a good start and even more so after the 2-0 win against Wolves. But it’s also a chance to continue making people raise their eyebrows and sit up in response to how well we’ve started.
Brighton and Crystal Palace have taken points away from Stamford Bridge this season, and it would probably take a defensive display similar to our own at Selhurst Park for us to leave with something. Still, we’ve already shown plenty of times that this is possible. Nothing is stopping us from getting something from what is a tough place to go, so why can’t we?
The stats over history aren’t on our side when it comes to visiting this part of London, but these games are in the record books now. This is arguably one of the most exciting, hard-working squads we’ll have ever taken to Stamford Bridge, and this will be put to the test on Saturday afternoon. Bring it on, is all I’ll say.
