Match Day Thread Chelsea FC v Sunderland AFC - Saturday 25th October 2025 - KO 15:00

Oh yeah definitely agree there, id be pretty surprised if he opts for anything else.

 

He's played alot of football so far this season Alderete. He's played every minute for both us and Paraguay travelling around the world, so it might not be a bad thing he sits this one out and rests for a week.

 

Just watched the first 4 and a half minutes so far and RLB's comments about the wingers ring true - been discussed on here as well, I think, with the same mindset. It's one of the hardest positions in the team to play and especially in our system. A lot of different demands: to press, hold, effect the final third and defend. Nice support by RLB in saying he believes in the players we've brought in and the team is a work in progress.

 

Could still go for a back five of:
Mukiele Ballard Hume
Geertruida Reinildo

Option of the right and left pairing swapping over during the game.

 

We’re on Premier Sports Ireland for those who can get that channel

usually has Gary breen dulcet tones waxing lyrically

 

Any Spanish based supporters can watch the lads and all the major football league's in Europe for €9.99 a month.

English football is way behind the rest of Europe.
Match days are still a thing, people still love to watch live, but how many would pay that can make it week in week out?

Don't outlaw IPTV, beat it with offering value for money.

https://www.dazn.com/es-ES/welcome?...boloffer&utm_content=hero&utm_id=futbol9&_p=0

 

Good call mate, all these things help ...

... there are so many Sunderland exiles around the country/world.

 

I seem to be of a different to opinion to most, as I expect Geertruida and Ballard to play together at centre half. Geertruida has been patient in waiting for a chance, but he’s not came to sit on the bench. With an injury, seems he will likely step in.

Mukiele was great at centre half but he’s an attacking full/wing back really, and can offer a lot going forward which we will need.

Reinildo, Geertruida, Ballard, Mukiele. Hume to come as a sub to help protect our lead (hopefully).

 

Had a dream last night about this weekend's match:

We were at home to Brentford again for some reason, we went 0-2 down then Reinildo got sent off again for entering the field of play after a long throw in,
We got it back to 2-2 (Aldarete and Quinn) then Brentford scored in the 96th min to win it.
I didn't get to the game as I was on a cruise ship with my Auntie who died 2 years ago.

Hope this helps lads and lasses, get your bets on now...

 

Canny read

 

We are expected to get beat and if we do so be it however this could be anything.

I struggled with a prediction. We could get hammered. We could put up a bloody good perfromance and sneak a draw. But fk it I will go for Xhaka banging a free kick late on in the game to steal all 3 points.

Cheers once again RTB for your magnificent input.

 

Can't open this up, what does it say?

 

David Coverdale explains how Le Bris’ leadership, recruitment and home form have powered the club's stunning start

Promoted Sunderland sit seventh in the table after a flying start to the season. Ahead of Saturday's trip to Chelsea, football writer David Coverdale takes a look at the key factors behind their impressive form.

Sunderland required a 95th-minute winner against Sheffield United in the Championship playoff final to scrape back into the Premier League after an eight-year exile, having finished last season 24 points behind Leeds United and Burnley.

However, the Black Cats are now soaring above their two fellow promoted teams in seventh place and visit Chelsea on Saturday ahead of three of last season’s top seven – rivals Newcastle United, plus Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest.

Sunderland’s haul of 14 points from their first eight games has only been bettered by six promoted sides in Premier League history, and it is the best start since Wolverhampton Wanderers collected 15 points seven years ago.

If they were to stay in seventh come the end of the season, it would match their best-ever finishes in the Premier League era, in 1999/00 and 2000/01, and may earn Sunderland a first return to European football since 1973. With a current rate of 1.75 points per game, they are even on course to break the 38-match Premier League record for the highest points tally for a promoted side, currently held by Ipswich Town, who collected 66 points in 2000/01.

The manager
Little was known about Regis Le Bris when he was named Sunderland’s new head coach in June 2024. The studious Frenchman, who has a doctorate in sports physiology and biomechanics, had a modest playing career and had just suffered relegation from Ligue 1 with Lorient in only his second season in senior management.

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However, Le Bris’ appointment has proved inspired, leading the Black Cats to promotion in his first campaign in charge after they had just finished 16th in the Championship, and now this stunning start to life back in the Premier League.

The 49-year-old is calm and understated, something which comes across in his interviews as well as his manner on the touchline.

Tactically, Le Bris favours a 4-3-3 formation but, unlike some of his fellow top-flight bosses, he is not afraid to adapt and has often switched to a back three during matches.

Sunderland formation v Wolves

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He is happy for his team to concede possession. Indeed, Sunderland had just 37 per cent of the ball when they beat West Ham United 3-0 on the opening weekend, and only 29 per cent when they drew 1-1 at home to Aston Villa with 10 men last month.

Le Bris takes pride in making his team hard to beat and is more interested in being efficient than dominant, happy to soak up pressure and then hit on the break. When they get the ball, they move it quickly and have one of the highest forward-passing percentages in the league.

New signings settled quickly
Sunderland brought in 15 new players in the summer transfer window at a reported cost of more than £160 million, a record for a promoted club.

Such upheaval can often backfire, yet the Black Cats’ acquisitions have almost all hit the ground running, none more so than captain Granit Xhaka. The former Arsenal midfielder has set the standards on and off the pitch, with his post-match dressing room speeches earning particular praise.

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“I didn’t think one player could have such an impact on a team, but he’s an unbelievable motivator and he’s lifted standards,” defender Dan Ballard - who scored Sunderland’s last-gasp playoff semi-final winner over Coventry City – told the Daily Mail. “When you train, it’s like you need to impress him.”

As well as excelling defensively in his holding role, Xhaka has provided two brilliant and crucial assists – for Wilson Isador's winner against Brentford and his equaliser against Villa.

“He is really good on the ball and off the ball he is really smart,” Le Bris told Sky Sports after Xhaka’s man of the match display at Nottingham Forest last month.

“He knows how to manage different situations in real time.

“Leadership is natural for him. He is a future coach. We need to use this strength of his because it’s so important for a young squad like ours.”

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Analysis: Xhaka at the heart of Sunderland's brilliant start

Tactics and Analysis
The 33-year-old Switzerland star was nominated for September’s Premier League Player of the Month award, as was Sunderland’s new goalkeeper Robin Roefs. The Dutchman has made the third-highest number of saves in the division and his save percentage of 81.8 per cent is only behind that of Arsenal's David Raya. No wonder chants of the “Roefs is on fire” have been heard ringing round the Stadium of Light.

Solid defence
Thanks to Roefs and his back four, only Arsenal have conceded fewer than Sunderland’s six goals so far this season. They have already kept four clean sheets, something which has particularly pleased Le Bris.

“That is an important foundation for our campaign and reflects the work the players are putting in every day to remain organised, focused and disciplined,” he wrote in his most recent programme notes. As well as the standout performances of Roefs, Omar Alderete - a summer signing from Getafe - has been rock solid at centre-back.

Nordi Mukiele has also been a revelation, whether partnering Alderete in the middle of defence or deployed at right-back.

The one-cap French international, who signed from Paris Saint-Germain having spent last season on loan at Bayer Leverkusen, has been dominant in the air and has a long throw which causes havoc.

But Mukiele is also a serious threat on the ball in attack, finishing off Sunderland’s lovely team move for their opening goal in their 2-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers last weekend.

Mukiele's goal v Wolves
A first Premier League goal for Nordi Mukiele pic.twitter.com/zxf06qTvd0

— Sunderland AFC (@SunderlandAFC)October 18, 2025
Despite playing in only six of Sunderland's eight matches, he tops the club's stats for tackles plus interceptions, has made five more tackles than his team-mates, is top for clearances and aerial duels, while also ranking joint-third for shot-creating actions.

“He has really good energy and a real commitment to go forward,” said Le Bris.

Strong at home
When Sunderland were last in the Premier League in 2016/17, they won only three matches at the Stadium of Light all season.

In just four games on Wearside this time around, they have already matched that tally in what is their best home start to a top-flight campaign since 1968/69.

Indeed, no Premier League side have more points on their own patch than their total of 10.

No doubt, Sunderland’s players are being inspired by their passionate and vocal supporters, with more than 46,000 packing out the Stadium of Light for every match so far.

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“I have to say the atmosphere at Sunderland was one of the best I’ve ever experienced in the Premier League,” said then West Ham head coach Graham Potter after his team were blown away on the opening day.

The atmosphere has seemingly continued from where it left off at the end of last season, when the noise generated from Ballard’s dramatic playoff winner against Coventry was said to be the most ear-splitting it has ever been since the Stadium of Light opened in 1997.

Connection has been key
It is fitting that a new footbridge has just opened in Sunderland linking the city centre to the Stadium of Light, because “connection” has been Le Bris’s buzzword since his arrival on Wearside.

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Sunderland fans walking across the new 'Keel Crossing' bridge

"There is a clear willingness to win together,” Le Bris said before last weekend’s match. But as well as his players quickly gelling together, they have also immediately connected with the fanbase and local community, perhaps helped by Sunderland’s recruitment team sending potential signings videos showing the club’s history.

It has all added to a feel-good factor around Wearside, the kind of which has not been seen since the days when Peter Reid was manager and Niall Quinn and Kevin Phillips were up front.

However, Sunderland supporters will know not to get too carried away. Their fixtures to date have been relatively kind, having only faced two of last season’s top seven, in Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest, who both were struggling for form when they faced the Black Cats.

Things are about to get tougher. Sunderland face Chelsea, Arsenal,Liverpool,Manchester CityandAFC Bournemouthin the next six weeks, before hosting a Wear-Tyne derby against Newcastle for the first time in the Premier League in a decade.

The Black Cats also face the prospect of losing up to seven of their squad - the most of any top-flight team - for the African Cup of Nations, which takes place in Morocco from 21 December to 18 January 2026, and could affect six league games.

 

Fanbloodytastic.

 

Thanks Smug

 

Sorry to mention this again but something Roefs is doing worries me and I don't know if it's a tactic or not.

When Hume was playing the return pass, to Mukiele, Roefs was virtually on the centre spot.

I assume that's to allow Ballard, or whoever the last defender is, to add to the attacking pressure.

Wolves took the bait and pulled everyone back so it worked and it appears Roefs is good enough to control a clearance and put in a decent cross.

What worries me is that someone will identify this and fire in a shot over Roefs' head.

I suppose it's possibly a gamble RLB is willing to take and believes Roefs will be aware enough to get back if it happens ...

... I still found it a bit scary though.

 

it really can be anything

2/3-0 defeat ( or worse)

a draw or we can surprise them and win 2-0.

just depends on how we start, attack and fustrate them early on, get an early goal, crowd will be riled up,

heart says we will win 2-1
head says this will be 3/4-0

 

Yeah Chelsea do have the talent to do that sort of thing. But they also gave Forest a lot of chances when they were caught out messing around at the back.