Sunderland vs Chelsea 2011 preview- September 10- Stadium of Light

Sunderland vs Chelsea 2011 preview

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10th September, 2011- Stadium of Light, Sunderland- Saturday-15.00 UK time

Chelsea will look to make it thirteen wins out of fourteen against Sunderland when they take on Steve Bruce’s Black Cats this weekend in the Premier League. New Blues boss Andre Villas-Boas will be looking to pick up his first Premier League away win this season following last fortnight’s 3-1 win over a spirited Norwich City outfit that saw stylish playmaker Juan Mata score on debut.

This game is bound to be a high scoring game if you look at the head to head last five meetings between the two sides.

Sunderland 2-4 Chelsea
Chelsea 0-3 Sunderland
Chelsea 7-2 Sunderland
Sunderland 1-3 Chelsea
Sunderland 2-3 Chelsea

Chelsea have however not scored in their last two Premier League away games- the last time this stat was three in a row was way back in April 2002. Sunderland have not managed to keep a clean sheet in nine and their leaky defence will be tested this weekend in the absence of the now sold Anton Ferdinand and the injured John O’Shea.

Even more tellingly for the Black Cats, they have lost their last three home league games and are yet to claim a league win this season, either at home or away.

Asamoah Gyan looks set to shake off the injury that kept him out of the Brazil-Ghana friendly, and it remains to be seen whether Steve Bruce gives new signing Nicklas Bendtner a start.

What are bookmakers saying about on loan signing Nicklas Bendtner scoring at any point of the game? Using a bet calculator we can see that the tall Dane can earn you as much as £75 for staking £20, considering 11/4 odds to score at any point of the game.

However it is doubtful that Bendtner will start. In each of his three Premier League games so far, Bruce has chosen to go with a 4-4-1-1 formation which has seen Stephane Sessegnon play behind Gyan. Starting Bendtner will probably mean sacrificing Gyan, unless Bruce wishes to play two upfront.

Didier Drogba is a doubt for Chelsea after his collision with John Ruddy last weekend. The giant Ivorian will probably undergo a late medical to determine his availability for the fixture.

Verdict:- Sunderland 0-2 Chelsea ( Frank Lampard, Anelka)