Sunderland ended a seven-game Premier League winless run by beating Chelsea 1-0 at the Stadium of Light on Sunday 8 November, Enzo Le Fée’s 36th-minute penalty settling it. It was their first league win since a 1-0 home win over Fulham on 30 August, and it lifted them off the bottom of the table going into the international break.
It came three days after a 2-0 Europa League defeat by Dinamo Zagreb, a night BBC Sport reported ended with Sunderland’s own supporters booing the team off. Club sources had told BBC Sport the week before that Régis Le Bris would be given more time. His side gave him a response.
How the penalty came
Sunderland lost captain Granit Xhaka to injury in the opening minutes, with Jules Ahoka coming on, but kept pushing. Chemsdine Talbi’s crosses did the early damage: one set up a Trai Hume shot that was blocked, and another, in the 15th minute, gave Brian Brobbey a chance from very close range that went narrowly wide.
Brobbey was the player Chelsea could not handle. He went close again after a fast break, from a difficult angle on the left, before Levi Colwill was penalised for pulling him down in the area. BBC Sport called the award controversial, noting that the two had been grappling as Brobbey drove at goal. Colwill was booked, and Le Fée sent Mike Penders the wrong way, the ball going into the bottom-left corner.
Chelsea felt they should have had a penalty of their own in the 25th minute, when Luke O’Nien brought down Cole Palmer. The referee waved play on, and VAR judged the foul to have happened just outside the box.
Chelsea’s second half
Xabi Alonso replaced Colwill with Estêvão at the break and moved Moisés Caicedo into central defence. Chelsea finished with 10 shots but created few clear chances. Thomas Meunier made a superb tackle in his own box midway through the half, and Danny Welbeck headed just over in stoppage time.
Sunderland could have doubled the lead. Wilson Isidor, on for Brobbey in the 67th minute, was denied by Penders from the centre of the box, and soon after headed Le Fée’s corner wide.
At the other end Robin Roefs saved from Pedro Neto, from a Morgan Rogers shot from more than 40 yards in first-half stoppage time, from Malo Gusto and from a late Palmer header.
The win came at a cost. Xhaka and Brobbey both went off with muscle injuries, BBC Sport reported, so Le Bris will be waiting on two of his most important players over the break.
What it does to the table
Sunderland have 8 points from 10 games and are 19th, level on points with Manchester United in 18th, who drew 4-4 with Aston Villa later the same day, and one point behind Nottingham Forest and Coventry City on 9. Crystal Palace, beaten 3-1 at home by Liverpool, are bottom on 7.
Chelsea stay fifth on 16 points, level with Everton and two behind Liverpool in fourth. They have lost four of their 10 league games, two of them in their last three.
