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Tuesday
18th August 2009
19:45
Sunderland fans are hoping the opening win over Bolton was the sign of things to come and now the Black Cats are expected to put up a real fight against Chelsea. The Blues largely struggled against Hull at Stamford Bridge but eventually managed to win the game and are now hoping to extend the good run of results.
Sunderland
After narrowly escaping relegation last season, Sunderland officials did everything they could to build a team capable of a top ten finish and they seem to have done a very good job. Steve Bruce is definitely the man who can bring success to Black Cats and he ensured his team had a great start to the season. Cana, Cattermole and Darren Bent were all handed debuts and they largely impressed with Bent even scoring the winning goal at Reebok Stadium. Darren Bent linked very well in attack with Kenwyne Jones and showed he would be a great signing for Steve Bruce’s side. Sunderland now face a very tough fixture against Chelsea, who failed to impress in the opening match against Hull. Nevertheless, the hosts have absolutely no reason to fear the big opponent, not after such a good performance against Bolton.
Keyman:Darren Bent
Bent had a good last game on his debut.He rounded it off with a goal.He is definitely the one The blues should be afraid of.
Team News
Steve Bruce will be able to chose from almost full squad as Kieron Richardson managed to shake off minor injury he picked up against Bolton, thus Paul McShane remains the only player on injury list. New signing from Paraguay, Paulo da Silva is still short of match fitness and he is likely to miss this game as well.
Chelsea
Everyone expected Chelsea to have an easy job against struggling Hull after the great pre-season performances and the win over Manchester United in the Community Shield, but things were not going as planned. The Blues showed a lot of weaknesses against Hull, especially in defence and they allowed the Tigers to take the lead midway through the first half after some sloppy defending. Didier Drogba then came to the rescue and managed to turn the tie around by scoring two goals, one of which was scored deep into the injury time. Carlo Ancelotti’s side did not play well against Hull and it is clear they are still far from the desired form, but they, nevertheless, managed to take all three points, which was very important in the opening game of the season. The Blues definitely need to improve if they want to get something from this match as Sunderland are the team that will punish them if the opportunity arises.
Keyman:Didier Drogba
The worldclass Ivory Cost striker had a good game against Hull, where he missed quite some oppertunities, but also managed to grab 2 goals.He will definitely be a threat to this Sunderland team.
Team News
Chelsea are likely to be without new signing Yuri Zhirkov for the Barclays Premier League trip to Sunderland.
Zhirkov is still struggling with a knee injury while full-back Juliano Belletti (Achilles) and defender Alex (groin) are also expected to miss out.
Midfielder Joe Cole and right-back Paulo Ferreira are back in training but not match fit enough to be considered.
Expected Line-up
cech
bosingwa Carvalho Terry A.cole
Mikel
Essien Malouda
Lampard
Anelka Drogba
History of the Sunderland v Chelsea fixture
Sunderland prepare to entertain Chelsea at The Stadium of Light on Tuesday evening, looking to continue an impressive record. The The Black Cats are clearly on top, winning 55.56% of the games played between the two.
The most recent encounter between these two sides at The Stadium of Light was less than a year ago, in May 2009, with Chelsea inflicting a narrow 2-3 defeat upon the The Black Cats in a Premier League match.
My Prediction
As much as i think that Sunderland would be giving chelsea a tough time, I still believe that this should be an easy victory for The blues. I predict a 3-0 win for chelsea.