Venue: Stadium of Light

Date: Sunday, 24 May

Kick-off: 1600 BST

We’ve got Everton in the FA Cup final on 30 May and it’s Guus Hiddink’s last chance to win us some silverware before he returns to Russia but whilst he’s got one eye on that game, it doesn’t sound as if he’ll be taking too many risks with the side he puts out today. The Chelsea boss says “We are thinking of the cup final, that’s for sure. If we make two or three changes the team will still be very competitive whoever plays.  We’re taking every game seriously, even those we play on the Cobham training pitch. There won’t be many changes to in the previous line-up. If we want to play the cup final with our most strong squad, then we must be very careful not to get them injured. There’s always a risk of injuries but I like my players to be in a good rhythm so I’m not in favour of giving them time off. Their intensity might go down and we’ll need that in the final.”

Today’s game is another last day of the season decider for Sunderland. If they do as well as Newcastle (away at Villa) and Hull (home to United), they’ll be ok but it’ll be an arse twitcher for them. Chelsea, on the other hand, will be hoping Spurs batter Liverpool and we do the same to Sunderland if we’re not going to finish outside the top two. Obviously there’s not much chance of Spurs doing us a favour like that, so personally I’d settle for Sunderland getting a result if it meant Middlesborough going down – but that just shows my ability to hold a grudge. Sunderland have never won a last day fixture in Premier League history though, so they could end the day heading for Championship football and their manager Ricky Sbragia says “It’s happened over the 38 games, we have not been consistent enough.  From our point of view, we have conceded too many and not scored enough, so it is down to consistency. We have had many chances to get out of the position we are in – we have not taken them and we are down to the final game.”

On squad news for Sunderland, Nyron Nosworthy (hamstring) and goalkeeper Craig Gordon (knee) miss out, Steed Malbranque (hip) is doubtful, and George McCartney (calf) is still short of match fitness.  For Chelsea, Joe Cole and Paulo Ferreira remain out long-term whilst Michael Ballack (flu) returns and both Ricardo Carvalho and Deco are available again after recovering from hamstring problems.

 KEY PLAYERS

SUNDERLAND

Djibril Cisse – Sunderland’s top Premier League scorer with 10 goals will be trying to put Petr Cech through his paces as they push for a win today.

CHELSEA

Nicolas Anelka – Chelsea’s top Premier League scorer with 18 goals and level with Cristiano Ronaldo for the Golden Boot, will be wanting to add more to his tally than the United man today.

CLUB FORM

SUNDERLAND

The Wearsiders have won just one of their last 12 games in the league and haven’t beaten any of the ‘Big Four’ in the Premier League since a home win over Arsenal in 2000. They’ve lost 50% of their Premier League games under their current manager and defeat against us today could see the eighth double over them this season. Sunderland go into this game 16^th in the table and if they finish there, it’ll be worth £3,6000,000 to them.

CHELSEA

We’ve managed 19 from our last 21 available and won 10 of 12 in the Premier League. Under Guus Hiddink, we’ve won 10, drawn one and lost one of 12 top-flight games. A win would equal last seasons 25, although a third place finish would be our lowest for six years. A win for us would see Sunderland become the 10^th club we’ve done the double over this season. We go into this game 3^rd in the table and if we finish there it’ll be worth £13,680,000 to us.

HEAD TO HEAD

Sunderland haven’t beaten us in 8 years, whilst we’re looking to beat them for the 9^th time on the trot in the Premier League, taking our unbeaten run against them to 10 games.  In our last nine meetings, we’ve also managed to put 21 goals past Sunderland, conceding just 2.

Home and Away
League (inc PL): Sunderland 35 wins, Chelsea 48, Draws 20
Prem: Sunderland 4 wins, Chelsea 10 wins, Draws 1

At Sunderland only
League (inc PL): Sunderland 28 wins, Chelsea 14 wins, Draws 9
Prem: Sunderland 3 wins, Chelsea 3 wins, Draws 1

LAST SEASON

Sunderland 0-1 Chelsea

Chelsea scorer: John Terry

15 March 2008 – Ref: Mike Dean

THIS SEASON’S REVERSE

Chelsea 5-0 Sunderland

Chelsea scorers: Alex 27, Anelka 30, 45, 53, Lampard 51,

1 November 2008 – Ref: Martin Atkinson

PREDICTION

Any other season with us in this position and I probably wouldn’t be expecting us to put too much effort into this game. We’re more or less certain to finish third, we’ve got the FA Cup next weekend and we won’t be wanting to risk anything before then, so why would we want to put ourselves out? Well maybe because this game’s a bit different? It’s Hiddink’s last game in the Premier League and I can’t see our players wanting to let him down, so I can see us pushing Sunderland a lot harder today than we might otherwise have done. It could all end in tears – for the Wearsiders.

TEAMS

SUNDERLAND (from): Fulop, Colgan, Bardsley, McCartney, Ferdinand, Davenport, Collins, Ben Haim, McShane, Edwards, Richardson, Tainio, Reid, Whitehead, Leadbitter, Malbranque, Yorke, Cisse, Jones, Healy, Murphy.

CHELSEA (from): Cech, Hilario, Bosingwa, A Cole, Terry, Ivanovic, Alex, Carvalho, Belletti, Ballack, Mikel, Lampard, Kalou, Malouda, Di Santo, Drogba, Anelka, Essien, Mancienne.

REFEREE

Mark Halsey (Lancs)

Filed under: Match Day, Preview