Saturday 7th May 2016 Kickoff 1500hrs
Sunderland v Chelsea
Football – Premier League – England
Both Sunderland and Chelsea have just three games left to play in this season’s Premier League, and with Leicester City having clinched a remarkable title triumph earlier this week, it’s the Black Cats battle with Newcastle and Norwich which takes centre stage now. Last weekend’s results mean Sunderland have now dropped back into the bottom three but they do have a game in hand over their North East rivals and as they are only one point adrift, there is everything still to play for.
Sunderland looked set to drop all three points away to Stoke City last week only for a last-gasp strike from Jermaine Defoe which rescued a point for them. How important that point will be come the end of the season remains to be seen, but they celebrated it as thought it will be the difference between staying up and being relegated. Overall, it was another good performance from Sam Allardyce’s men but I’m sure he would be the first to admit that playing well and not winning is as far from what he is aiming for at this stage of the season as possible. The former Bolton, Blackburn and West Ham boss would much prefer his team to be dogged and winning games ugly, as results are all important in their battle to avoid the drop. With games against Everton and Watford to follow, at home and away respectively, it’s not the hardest of run-in’s, but bearing in mind that Sunderland have managed only one win in their last nine games, there are going to have to pull out all the stops if they are to finish outside of the bottom three.
Considering the build-up to Monday night’s match at home to Tottenham, and what was riding on it for their opponents, this particular London derby was always going to be that touch feistier. Chelsea’s players made no secret of the fact that the last thing they wanted was to see Spurs win this season’s Premier League and if they could be the team to put the final nail in their coffin, all the better. As we know now, that was exactly what happened as the Blues recovered from two goals down to take a point and hand the title to the Foxes. In some ways, the 90 minutes encapsulated Chelsea’s seasons, as the first 45 was so far from the level you expect from such a talented group of players, before they eventually decided to turn up after half-time and look something like a team who coasted to the Premier League 12 months ago. With Antonio Conte confirmed to take over at Stamford Bridge after this summer’s European Championships, we can expect plenty of comings and goings as the club look to return to something like a team challenging for honours, and it would be no surprise if several big name players are playing out their final couple of weeks at Chelsea.
It looks very much as though the battle to avoid the drop is going to go down to the wire, however, there may well be some clarity to the situation come 5pm on Saturday evening. Norwich play at home to Manchester United in the early afternoon encounter and if they fail to win it, the Canaries would be relying on other teams to do them a massive favour at 3pm. Newcastle travel to already relegated Aston Villa knowing that a win would mean they maintain their lead over Sunderland at the very least. It’s difficult to foresee anything other than a win for Rafael Benitez’ and his players so it makes the game at the Stadium of Light extremely crucial. It may well not be a must-win, but relying on a team who have won just seven games all season to take maximum points from their last two (and still not guarantee their safety) would appear to be a tall order. I believe anything less than three points against Chelsea, should Newcastle win, would be a damning blow to Sunderland’s chances of playing top-flight football next term.
It is anybody’s guess what to expect from Chelsea week to week this season, as illustrated with their last six games resulting in two wins, two draws and two defeats. Away from home, however, the Blues have at least put together a pretty good run of form of late and lost just once on their travels in the league in 2016. That defeat came at Swansea, but other than that it has been a very good run. With 16 goals scored in their eight away games, accumulating 19 points, this calendar year, Chelsea appear to be better suited playing on the road than at home, but it is in stark contrast to the first half of the season under Mourinho when they managed only one away win in nine league games. I’m sure Allardyce and all Sunderland supporters would much prefer to be facing that Chelsea compared to this one.
Sunderland v Chelsea Betting Tips
It seems almost unimaginable that Chelsea are very much likely to finish in ninth place but that’s the reality and it’s one that Sunderland have to recognise. Despite all their many stars, this Chelsea team have continued to underperform on so many occasions and for all their away from has been pretty good under Hiddink, there is no guarantee that the Chelsea who finished Monday night’s game against Spurs will turn up. Allardyce will be drilling that into his players and hoping the last-minute equaliser against Stoke has reinforced a growing belief amongst the squad that they can survive.
Games between these two down the years have yielded a few goals with the last 16 league meetings resulting in 60 goals being scored. Chelsea – unsurprisingly – have scored the vast majority of those, but both teams have netted in 11 of those meetings. Recently, Sunderland have been involved in a number of draws (six of their last nine) but as I have alluded to above, I don’t think one point is much use to them here as I fully expect Newcastle to win at Villa. It should ensure plenty of attack from the outset from the hosts, and with Chelsea having scored 12 goals in their last five away games, I’m confident that the trend of goals when these two meet will continue on Saturday.
Over 2.5 goals 5/6 @ Betvictor
