Chelsea v Sunderland team news and stats

Eden Hazard: Real Madrid target

Eden Hazard: Real Madrid target

Chelsea begin life after Jose Mourinho at Stamford Bridge on Saturday by hosting a Sunderland side who have a better points record than them since the start of October.

Team news

Eden Hazard remains a doubt for Chelsea’s Premier League clash with Sunderland at Stamford Bridge after limping out of Monday’s 2-1 defeat at Leicester City.

Jose Mourinho admitted he did not know the extent of the 24-year-old’s problem after Chelsea’s ninth league defeat of the season.

The Stamford Bridge club are now adjusting to life after Mourinho’s Thursday exit, with Hazard the main potential injury issue.

Boss Sam Allardyce is still without Lee Cattermole and Sebastian Larsson for Sunderland.

Cattermole is still sidelined with a recurrence of a long-standing back injury while Larsson is at least two weeks from a return with a knee problem.

Sebastian Coates is a doubt after missing training on Thursday due to illness, but Younes Kaboul has recovered and is expected to be fit.

Opta stats

  • Chelsea have won 18 and lost just two of their last 21 Barclays Premier League games against Sunderland.
  • Jose Mourinho and Sam Allardyce have met 10 times in the Premier League as opposition coaches, and the Portuguese is unbeaten (W7 D3 L0).
  • Chelsea have lost as many Premier League games this season (9) as in 2013-14 (6) and 2014-15 (3) combined.
  • The Blues have lost four of their last seven Premier League home games – prior to this run, Chelsea had lost just one of their 99 PL home games under Jose Mourinho.
  • The only team to defeat Chelsea in their opening 99 Premier League home games under Jose Mourinho were Sunderland; 2-1 in April 2014.
  • In four of the last five Premier League games between Sunderland and Chelsea, the team who scored first ended up losing the match while the other ended 0-0.
  • Sunderland (10) have picked up more points than Chelsea (7) in the Premier League since the start of October.
  • Diego Costa has scored just three goals in 13 Premier League appearances this season – in his first 13 PL apps of 2014-15 he had netted 12 goals.
  • Loic Remy has scored three goals in four Premier League appearances against the Black Cats.
  • Sunderland have allowed their opponents a league-high 99 shots on target in the Premier League this season