Chelsea travel to the far northern reaches to take on the bottom side in the league this weekend, giving us a great chance to solidify our top-four position as we head into the final international break of the calendar year, and the busy winter period that is to follow.
Of course, nothing’s a given in the Premier League, and there are no easy games, as the cliché goes. But that cliché exists for a reason, and these are precisely the sorts of games that often provide that reason. And it’s not like
we are some sort of unstoppable force these days.
We did get back in the wins column last weekend, though that 2-0 win was a good performance only in the second 45 and we got quite lucky with Manchester United being their own worst enemies (even more so than we can be). Sunderland, bad as they have been overall, are unlikely to be as generous in front of their home crowd.
Date / Time: Sunday, November 8, 2026, 14.00 GMT; 9am EST; 7:30pm IST
Venue: Stadium of Light, Sunderland
Referee: Jarred Gillett (on pitch), Nick Hopton (VAR)
Forecast: Cold and rainy, the north!
On TV: Sky Sports Premier League (UK); USA, Telemundo (USA); Star Sports Select HD2 (India); SuperSport MaXimo 1 (NGA); elsewhere
Streaming: Sky Go (UK); Telemundo Deportes En Vivo (USA); JioHotstar (India); DStv Now (NGA)
Sunderland team news: It was an historic season last year for the Black Cats, back in the top flight after an eight-year absence and not only surviving but thriving all the way to a seventh-place finish (matching their highest ever finish in the Premier League) and European qualification (for just the second time in their history).
Compared to that, this season, so far, has been a disaster, certainly in the league. With largely the same squad, they sit bottom of the table with just one win and five points from nine games. But at the same time, they have advanced to the quarterfinals of the League Cup (beating Brentford along the way) and are doing alright in the Europa League (one defeat in four). So perhaps their struggles in the Premier League are more down to stretched resources rather than anything else — a common ailment for teams not normally used to competing across so many fronts.
That said, they do only have on win in their last six across all competitions, including a 2-0 defeat at home against Dinamo Zagreb on Thursday. They are there for the taking, should we choose to play up to our capabilities.
Manager Régis Le Bris has been in charge since 2024 (as seen in the excellent “Sunderland ‘Til I Die” Netflix series), but he’s coming under serious pressure now. Football comes at you fast. So does time, as Chelsea summer transfer window target (and former Xabi Alonso favorite) Granit Xhaka is finding out. He played a key role for them last year, but has struggled to repeat those performances this season. Still, dropping the club captain isn’t an easy decision to make, especially with a couple injuries at the position, including to former Strasbourg man Habib Diarra. Defender Dan Ballard is also out while Omar Alderete is suspended after his sending off last weekend. Winger Romaine Mundle is recovering from an ACL.
Sunderland have scored the fewest goals in the league, but Brian Brobbey does have three of the seven, and he scored the winner against us last time we came here.
View from the enemy: Roker Report
Chelsea team news: With Arsenal already opening up a decent lead at the top of the table ahead of Brighton and Sham City, the Blues are somehow best of the rest at this juncture, despite our inconsistent results and semi-frequent absolute collapses. We’ve done that mostly on the strength of our attack (third best in the league), though lately we’ve tightened things up at the back, having only conceded only four goals in the five games since the last international break, with two clean sheets. Spurs disaster aside, it’s been a decent run of results in the last month, even earning Xabi Alonso a second Premier League Manager of the Month nomination.
And we’ve done that despite some key injuries entering our lives lately, with first-choice striker João Pedro, first-choice goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez, first-choice defender Maxence Lacroix, first-choice captain Reece James, and now first-choice midfielder Moisés Caicedo potentially unavailable. Caicedo has been dealing with “discomfort” in his lower leg this week though Alonso didn’t completely rule him out. Martínez as well could yet take part, just three weeks after undergoing surgery for a fractured jaw, having now been fitted with a protective mask. (Young Mike Penders has deputized well enough in his absence, but Emi surely remains the first-choice.) Jorrel Hato and Jamie Gittens remain out as well, while Geovany Quenda is dealing with a slight knock.
On the plus side, lesser spotted center back Aarón Anselmino has been declared fit (and even called up by Argentina) and Sunderland-born and grown Jordan Henderson is over his illness and ready to return to his ancestral home. If Caicedo’s unable to go, Hendo will likely be the midfield partner for the Premier League Player of the Week, Roméo Lavia, who’s on his best two-game run in his injury-filled Chelsea career.
Alonso’s hoping last weekend’s win can kickstart a solid winning run as we head into the meaty part of the season.
“The table means not too much because that can change so much in one week, in two games. We are taking a step forward, I think, with the ball, against the ball, being more solid. [We] won the last game, now the focus is to keep winning, winning, winning and to build this mentality to go game by game.”
-Xabi Alonso; source: Chelsea FC
Previously: Sunderland did the double over Chelsea last season, winning 2-1 both home and away. That’s fairly tragic, though our record at the Stadium of Light wasn’t great even prior to that, during Sunderland’s prior stay in the Premier League, with just one win in four visits across all competitions.
