Sunderland joined Leeds United and Burnley in earning promotion from the Championship last season, returning to the Premier League after an eight-year absence (parts of which spell were chronicled in the most
excellent “Sunderland ’Til I Die” series, which everyone should watch).
Surprisingly, it’s the Black Cats who are doing the best of the three so far this season, with nearly as many points, 14, as the two others combined, 15 — and exactly as many points as Chelsea. They have done it with the strength of their defense (only Arsenal have conceded fewer) and a relatively easy schedule (not faced any team currently above them in the table), and come in with just one defeat in their last six.
Enzo Maresca expects Sunderland to provide a tougher test than Ajax did on Wednesday. He’s probably right.
Date / Time: Saturday, October 25, 2025, 15.00 BST; 10am EDT; 7:30pm IST
Venue: Stamford Bridge, SW6
Referee: Andy Madley (on pitch); Craig Pawson (VAR)
Forecast: Cool but probably dry
On TV: none (UK); none (USA); none (India); SuperSport Premier League, Canal+ Sport 4 (NGA); elsewhere
Streaming: none (UK); Peacock (USA); Disney+ Hotstar (India); DStv Now (NGA)
Chelsea team news: Wednesday’s win made it four wins on the spin in all competitions, with the Blues keeping the momentum going from the narrow wins against Benfica and Liverpool with comprehensive triumphs against Nottingham Forest and Ajax Amsterdam. The win against Ajax even allowed us to rest and rotate the squad a bit.
Fitness concerns do remain front and center, though our injury has shrunk a bit and we’re down to “just” five: Cole Palmer, Levi Colwill, Benoît Badiashile, Dário Essugo, and Liam Delap. And there’s good news on Delap, too, as he appears to be ahead of schedule, and is back in training though not ready to feature just yet.
Also not featuring will be Malo Gusto, who’s suspended after getting sent off in the final minutes against Forest last weekend. We’ve had a player sent off in four of our last seven games (five if you count red cards given to coaches) and 10 of our last 23 games in all competitions have produced a red card for one side or the other, or both. Even one of our preseason friendlies saw a red card, with AC Milan’s Andrei Coubis getting sent off at the Bridge.
Is there something in the water?
“For sure when you concede five six red cards I don’t know exactly how many for sure there is something that you have to improve and it’s something that for sure we are going to improve. I’m not that kind of manager to punish players. […] I prefer to help them to understand and then from there to do the right things.
“I think the João Pedro red card against Benfica was last minutes of the game. Malo Gusto was last minutes of the game. So it depends. They are all different kinds of red card [but] Malo red card we can avoid. João red card we can avoid that. You can avoid. If you see the Trevoh red card against Brighton you can allow him to shoot and then we see Man United is the same.
“It’s a decision that you have to take in one second in two seconds. So it’s not easy for the players. Then there are things like the last one. I think that was a was a huge mistake because the game is finished at 0-3.”
-Enzo Maresca; source: VAVEL
Sunderland team news: Sunderland doing as well as they are may be a bit surprising given how much recent promoted sides have struggled in the Premier League, though they did spent nearly £200m in the summer to buy nearly a brand new starting XI. The spree included the five (5!) most expensive signings they’ve ever made, topped by the €30m spent on midfielder Habib Diarra from the BlueCo family of products at RC Strasbourg. The other four were Simon Adingra (Brighton), Enzo Le Fée (AS Roma), Brian Brobbey (Ajax), and Chemsdine Talbi (Club Brugge).
Not quite making the list, but just as important are midfielder Granit Xhaka, back in the Premier League after a two-year spell in Germany, and young goalkeeper Robin Roefs, who’s been perhaps the best goalkeeper in the league so far this season. And sneaking in at the last minute was a familiar face, former Chelsea prospect Bertrand Traoré, now on the wrong side of 30 but coming off the right side of a 10-goal season at Ajax.
As mentioned at the top, Sunderland have an excellent defense and average just under a goal per game conceded under head coach Régis Le Bris. They’ve been less excellent at scoring goals however, with Wilson Isidor the only player with more than one to his name with three. One of the players with one to his name is (well, was) Marc Guiu, who was recalled just a few weeks into his loan from Chelsea. He could be in line to start for us.
Previously: We haven’t played Sunderland since their relegation. Our last meeting, on the final day of that 2016-17 season saw Chelsea celebrate the Premier League title with an emphatic 5-1 victory. We have not won the league since.
