Saturday 22nd November 2025
Fulham v Sunderland – Premier League
Stadium of Light Kick-Off: 15:00
Tickets & Match Coverage
Tickets: Tickets are sold out.
TV/Stream: Full live match coverage is unavailable in the UK.
Radio: Full live match commentary available via BBC Radio Newcastle (not online)
Don’t forget to follow the blow-by-blow
account of the game on the Roker Report Twitter feed (@RokerReport) and check out the player ratings after the full-time whistle at www.RokerReport.sbnation.com!
The build-up…
After years of slagging off the international break, I’m going to concede that it’s not too bad spending a fortnight looking at Sunderland occupy a Champions League place in the Premier League – there, I’ve said it.
It’s also given us two weeks to just enjoy the aftermath of the Arsenal game and soak in the progress we’ve made. Just two defeats in the first eleven games, and looking at those games against Burnley and Manchester United, they become more frustrating after the performances we put in at the likes of Stamford Bridge – but let’s not get greedy.
Despite our only two defeats coming on the road, we have arguably been more impressive away from the Stadium of Light, and the game plan on home soil against Arsenal was very much like how we approached the Chelsea game. I think the cat is out of the bag in terms of how we don’t mind defending on our travels, and this is backed up by the fact that only two sides have scored fewer away from home, and only four sides have conceded less.
Today presents a different test as our form and league standing potentially leads sides to pay us a little more respect, and has a risk of adding a little more pressure to get a result. We head to the big smoke today to take on a Fulham side who have lost five out of the last six and were pretty awful last time out against Everton, but does this mean we tinker with the approach to be more on the front foot?
Even though we need to remortgage the house ahead of a trip to Fulham, it’s one of the few grounds with a bit of character and with a 3pm kick-off has a good feel to it – let’s hope we feel the same way at 5pm.
Fulham fans have had it good the last few years. After coming out of a period of being a true yo-you club bouncing between the top two divisions, they finally cracked it with Marco Silva when they last returned to the Premier League.
Only Arteta and Pep have been in charge of their club longer than Silva has been in the Fulham hotseat in the Premier League, and if you look at the last three years, it’s easy to see why. Finishing between 10th and 13th in the table while having two FA Cup quarter-final appearances and a League Cup semi-final tie in that time qualifies as a significant step up in the club’s fortunes from the years that came before Silva’s appointment.
But, as so many clubs have experienced in the past, a period like that ends up with a question – what’s next? This is where fans question the ambition of the club, and the manager gets a little twitchy in regard to looking around to see what other employment might be around to match his own ambition, or causing unrest by demanding more from the powers that be.
Silva was vocal during the summer about how he would have preferred more players arriving through the doors after they put all their eggs in one basket with the signing of highly-rated Kevin, from Shakhtar Donetsk, for the best part of £35m.
Rumours circulated that Silva might be off, but he remained in the dugout when the new season kicked off, and it looked like more of the same after they won two and drew two in their opening five games. But since then, they have lost five of the last six, where a 3-0 win over Wolves hinted that they had turned the corner, before having a bit of a shocker at Everton before the international break.
This resulted in rumours circulating over the latest break in play that Silva was about to be sacked at any moment, which would have been a strange decision, especially because Brendan Rodgers was top of the bookmakers’ market to replace him.
But despite all of that, Fulham have only lost once in five on home soil heading into today’s game – and that was against Arsenal – so Le Bris won’t be making the mistake of underestimating the Cottagers this afternoon.
The betting…
The bookies have the Lads at 11/14 to win the game, while Fulham are favourites at 21/20, and the draw is 21/10.
Head to head… at Craven Cottage
(All competitions)
- Sunderland wins: 13
- Draws: 7
- Fulham wins: 12
- Sunderland goals: 47
- Fulham goals: 42
Last time we met… at Craven Cottage
Saturday 28th January 2023
FA Cup – Fourth Round
Fulham 1-1 Sunderland
[Cairney 61’ – Clarke 6’]
Sunderland: Patterson, Hume, Ballard, Batth, Alese (Huggins), Neil, Michut (Ekwah), Roberts (Rigg), Diallo, Clarke (Bennette), Stewart (Ba) Substitutes not used: Bass, Johnson, Kelly, Watson
Fulham: Rodak, Tete, Kurzawa, Palhinha (Reed), Diop, Adarabioyo, Wilson (Willian), Cairney (Reid), Vinicus (Mitrovic), Pereira, Solomon Substitutes not used: Leno, Duffy, Ream, Harris, James
Attendance: 22,905
Played for both…
Andy Melville
Melville began his career with Swansea City, where he spent his first four years ahead of a move to Oxford United in the summer of 1990. It would be three years before Terry Butcher made a move to sign the Welsh international for an initial fee of £500,000 – although the deal also included Anton Rogan in exchange.
Melville would spend a successful six years on Wearside, making over 200 appearances. A classy defender on his day, his final season would see him miss only two League games as Sunderland won the second tier with 105 points in 1999. Spells at Fulham, West Ham United and Nottingham Forest followed Sunderland before retirement in 2005.
Prediction…
Fulham 1-1 Sunderland
I might stop predicting in the previews, because whenever I have thought we might come unstuck like at Chelsea and last time out against Arsenal the Lads pull a result out of the bag and whenever I get a bit confident, as I did against Everton, it doesn’t quite go to plan. That leaves me in a tricky position, so I’m going to go with a draw.
