Sunderland - Match Preview

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Venue

Chelsea travel to the city of Sunderland to face Gus Poyet’s Black Cats on Wednesday, December 4^th at 19:45 UK time as part of the 14^th round in the EPL.

About the game

Chelsea have bounced back from the disappointing results against Newcastle and WBA in the EPL with two convincing wins over West Ham and Southampton. The Blues will be looking to keep that momentum going and build on those two wins in what looks like an easy against a relegation battler on paper. But any PL fan would know that a trip to Sunderland on a cold Wednesday night to play a team fighting against relegation is about as tough as it gets, especially in this crazy season where any it has been proved on several occasions that any team can beat anyone. A recent example would be when Sunderland themselves managed to beat City 1-0 at the stadium of light.

About the opposition

After a short stint for Paulo Di Canio that didn’t go too well, Sunderland have hired ex Stamford Bridge favorite, Gus Poyet, just over a month ago. The Uruguayan, who spent 4 years at Chelsea scoring 49 goals in 146 appearances for the club, took over a team that sat rock bottom with just one point from seven matches. And despite losing 4-0 to Swansea on his first game in charge, a derby win against Newcastle in the following game saw the team gain some momentum and self-belief. The Black Cats have picked up 7 of their 8 league points so far this season in their last 5 matches.

Key players

In his pre-match press conference Jose said: “Sunderland are better than the points they have”. He was probably just saying that as part of his mind games to make them attack more, but that does not change the fact that it’s actually true. The Stadium of light is home to a group of players who, on paper, should not be battling for relegation. This includes the likes of John O’Shea, Steven Fletcher, Phil Bardsley, Sebastian Larsson..etc But the main threats to us tonight will probably be versatile ex-Juve man and star of the Azzuri team from the last Euro, Emanuel Giaccherini, along with Adam Johnson who is by far the most involved man in the Black Cat’s attacks with both the most shots and most key passes in the team.

Team news

In his PC, Jose confirmed that Eto’o, who was injured against Basel, has returned to training and is available for selection while Oscar, picked up a knock on his ankle against Southampton, is not. Along with Oscar, Luiz is still out with a knee injury and of course MVG is still a long way from returning from his ACL rupture.

On the other hand, Sunderland will be missing Cuellar for this match, while O’Shea and Westwood face a late fitness test, according to Physioroom.

Expected lineups

Gus is expected to continue with his 4-1-4-1 formation: Mannone; Celustka, O’Shea, Brown, Bardsley; Ki Sung-Yueng; Giaccherini, Larsson, Colback, Johnson; Fletcher.

As for Chelsea, I can guarantee that Cech, JT and Ramires start. For the rest of the team, your guess is as good as mine.

Stats and facts*

- Sunderland have scored just 12 goals in their last 14 EPL matches.

- Chelsea have won 16 of their last 17 EPL matches against Sunderland (we all know what the other one game was )

- Sunderland is the side that Torres has scored the most goals against in the EPL. He has 6 goals in 7 matches including 3 in his last 3 visits to the stadium of light.

- Chelsea have only won back to back away EPL games once in 2013!

- Sunderland have attempted the fewest shots on target in the top flight this season (30).

- Sunderland have conceded more OGs than any other team in the EPL this season.

- Against Villa at the weekend, Sunderland became only the second team in EPL history to name 4 Italians in the starting XI. The first team was Chelsea in 2000.

- Chelsea have been caught offside more than any other team in the league (43 times).

Match Odds

According to SkyBet: Sunderland win 5/1 Draw 3/1 Chelsea win 8/15

Coverage

UK: BBC One

US: NBC Sports

Middle East: Al Jazeera

You can see where the match is being broadcasted in your country here. Or you can follow our TalkChelsea Twitter account for a live match feed.

*Match stats and facts are provided by The Football App for Android.

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