With the international break over, Chelsea are now preparing to don their winter kits and head north for their forthcoming match against Sunderland.
The game should, by all accounts, be an effortless victory for Jose Mourinho’s 11, who are top of the table and have yet to lose a game. Sunderland, by comparison, find themselves in 14th place after losing three and drawing in six of their 11 games played so far. In a particularly low moment for the Black Cats, they were beaten 8-0 by Southampton in an away game that saw them score two own goals.
However, though the upcoming match on 29th November should be a walk in the park for the Blues, there will be some bad blood between the teams thanks to an old score that Mourinho has yet to settle.
Last season, just one month before the Premier League tournament came to an end, Chelsea thought they had it easy when they came up against the Black Cats at Stamford Bridge. Prior to the match, Jose Mourinho had had a stunning unbeaten home record during his five years as manager for the team.
However, despite Samuel Eto’o's initial leading goal, Sunderland bounced back and managed to walk away with two goals and three points, ending Mourinho’s winning streak. It is one thing to have your five-year record broken; it is another to have it broken by a non top-flight team.
Sunderland’s then-goal scorer Connor Wickham will be present at the match at the end of the month, though they cannot pin their hopes on their other scorer, Fabio Borini, who is now back to Liverpool after being loaned to the team last year. Without a doubt, Mourinho will be keeping a close eye on Wickham to make sure history does not repeat itself.
Some satisfaction for Mourinho then will be the fact that this time the game is being played away – while Chelsea will not have the chance to change history on their own soil, they will have the opportunity to get their revenge by beating their enemies in their home stadium.
As a top flight team who have regularly been compared to Arsenal amongst other recent silverware winners, Chelsea should have no trouble regaining their reputation as they take on Sunderland the second time round. This time, it’s personal, and there’s a lot more at stake – their undefeated record so far this season.
