Sunderland beat Chelsea 3-2 in May 2016 as they went on a stunning late run to secure their Premier League status when all had looked lost for the previous number of weeks. After losing manager Sam Allardyce when he was appointed England national team boss by the FA late in the off-season (which he subsequently resigned as) the Black Cats board had to move quickly to get a good manager in place and they were fortunate to sign former Everton and Manchester United boss David Moyes to a contract. Unfortunately, the Black Cats got off to a very slow start taking a couple of months to record their first win and it looked like they were doomed for relegation and Moyes being cut loose. Despite registering a couple of wins recently they remain bottom of the table but are now only 2 points away from safety after being well adrift for weeks and weeks so Moyes seems to be getting his team to turn the corner.
Recent history certainly favours the Blues as they have won an impressive 8 games of the past 10 games against Sunderland with a draw and a single loss. Add to that the fact the Blues have not lost back-to-back Premier League games to the Black Cats in over 15 years with the last time that happened for the Wearsiders way back in March of 2001. So the odds and form book certainly favour Antonio Conte’s men. Form wise for Sunderland, a bit of good news for Moyes’ men is that they have won the past 2 home games vs Chelsea – but on the negative side of that you have to go all the way back to February 2012 to see when they last won 3 games in a row at the Stadium of Light.
It seems the key to playing Sunderland is simple: if you stop Jermaine Defoe then you stop Sunderland from scoring. Defoe has been involved in 71% of the Black Cat’s Premier League goals so far. The former England striker has not lost any of his pace and is still a goal poacher of the highest quality as a result he has scored 8 goals and added 2 assists so he has had a hand in 10 of the 14 Sunderland League goals. Looking at Defoe’s record against Chelsea a little more closely reveals that Jermaine has enjoyed success over his career, not matter which club he has played for. He is the only player to have scored against Chelsea with four different clubs – an awesome accomplishment, pulling off the feat for Sunderland of course as well as all three of his other former clubs in West Ham, Portsmouth and Tottenham. This clearly means that Chelsea have to pay particular attention to Defoe and Antonio Conte will surely have his men well aware of Defoe’s scoring prowess when playing vs the Blues and is likely to have a specific plan in place to nullify the threat of the Sunderland striker who has been a force in all the games he has played.
Looking at the Chelsea threat – it clearly is dominated by player of the year so far Diego Costa who has not been involved in the team’s goals in only 2 of the 15 League matches they have played so far. Costa leads the League in scoring and has done so all season long. The only teams to sort of nullify his threat have been Manchester United and Arsenal, at home and away respectively where he was unable to score or assist. After notching another winning goal on Sunday vs West Brom, the striker moved onto 12 League goals with a decent 5 assists and sits tied with Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez. Moyes will need to have a good strategy to deal with Eden Hazard who looks like the player of old having already scored 8 League goals. His tally puts him joint 5th for League goals and he has been a serious attacking threat in all Chelsea’s games so if Costa was to have an unexpected quiet game, Hazard can be equally devastating something the Wearsider’s boss will be most concerned with.
Given the overall play of Chelsea in recent matches while it will not be an easy assignment facing David Moyes’ Sunderland team who have so much to play for, the Blues too have a great deal to play for – able to extend their lead to 6 points over Arsenal who lost to Everton tonight. During their 9 game winning run they have shown they can outclass teams and score plenty of goals but they have also shown they can gut out tight 1-0 wins in games where they are not at their fluid best – a true sign of Champions. The bottom line is the manager Antonio Conte has a squad that has completely bought into his system and his Blues are revelling in his way of doing things – the results make that plain to see. We predict a 3-1 win as Costa and Hazard deliver the goods with Willian perhaps adding the other goal especially if he gets a deserved start while Jermaine Defoe could well notch a goal for Sunderland.