Sunderland vs Chelsea preview and prediction: bottom-placed hosts have beaten the visitors twice running

Context and table

Sunderland host Chelsea in the Premier League at the Stadium of Light on Sunday 8 November, with kick-off at 14:00 UTC. Both sides may play again before then, so the figures below are a snapshot from the time of writing.

As things stand, Sunderland are 20th after 9 matches. They have 1 win, 2 draws and 6 defeats, with 7 goals scored and 17 conceded. That gives them 5 points and a goal difference of -10.

Chelsea are 4th after the same number of games. They have won 5, drawn 1 and lost 3, scoring 19 and conceding 15 for 16 points. The gap between the sides is 11 points.

Sunderland's recent form

Sunderland's last 5 matches brought 1 win, 2 draws and 2 defeats, with 5 goals for and 8 against. The most recent was a 3-1 defeat away at Coventry on 31 October. Before that came a 3-2 home win over Brentford and a 0-0 draw with Leeds at home.

The season numbers show a side short of goals. They average 0.8 per match, have failed to score in 44% of their games and have kept a clean sheet in 22%. They concede 1.9 per match.

The expected goals figures are mixed. Sunderland created 1.74 against Coventry and 2.38 against Brentford, but only 0.13 in a 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth.

Chelsea's recent form

Chelsea have won 3, drawn 1 and lost 1 of their last 5, scoring 10 and conceding 4. They beat Manchester United 2-0 at home on 31 October and drew 1-1 at Liverpool 3 days earlier. A 2-0 home defeat by Tottenham on 24 October is the one loss in the run. Before that they won 2-0 at Everton and 5-1 at home to Bournemouth.

Over the season they average 2.1 goals per match and have failed to score in 22% of their games. Their concession rate is 1.7 per match, and 67% of their games have featured more than 2.5 goals.

Head-to-head

The recent record favours Sunderland. They won 2-1 at home on 24 May 2026 and also won 2-1 away at Chelsea on 25 October 2025. Chelsea have not won either of those 2 meetings.

Outlook

The table and the recent form point towards Chelsea, who have scored more and conceded fewer over the last 5 matches. Sunderland have struggled for goals and results this season, though the head-to-head record shows they have been able to beat this opponent. A fairly tight game looks plausible, with Chelsea's attacking output the main reason to lean their way.