Sunderland beat Chelsea 1-0 at the Stadium of Light on Sunday and ended what NBC Sports' live coverage called a 321-minute home goal drought. Enzo Le Fée converted a 36th-minute penalty after Levi Colwill brought down Brian Brobbey. The sharper number sat at the other end: OneFootball reported that Chelsea had three touches in the opposition box in the first half, and that the last time they had fewer in the opening 45 minutes of a Premier League game was against Manchester City in January 2022.
The penalty that broke the drought
Brobbey had already given Chelsea's defense a difficult afternoon when he muscled away from Colwill and burst into the box. He went down as he shaped to shoot. Jarred Gillett pointed to the spot, and VAR reviewed the challenge without overturning it.
TNT Sports' live commentary described both players as battling and called Colwill "the guiltier party." The Guardian's Simon Burnton, after seeing a replay, thought Brobbey's right foot may also have caught his own left ankle, while still noting that Colwill made no attempt to play the ball and may have made contact first. Chelsea protested. Colwill was booked.
Le Fée sent Mike Penders the wrong way, low to the keeper's left. TNT Sports noted he had already scored three penalties this season; this was his fourth. NBC Sports reported that the goal erased a 321-minute home drought at the Stadium of Light.
The keeper call was not the problem
The pre-match argument around Chelsea had been about Emiliano Martinez. Doctors had cleared him to play in a protective mask after jaw surgery and a concussion, and Xabi Alonso had reserved Sunday for the final decision. When the team sheet arrived, Penders started a fourth straight Premier League game, Teddy Sharman-Lowe was the substitute goalkeeper, and Martinez was not in the 20 at all.
Alonso explained that choice before kickoff, according to Chelsea's official website. "He has made a great effort to be available but probably it was too rash, too risky [to be selected]," he said. "So he will use one more week, ten days, to keep on training and get used to the mask. I'm sure after the break he will be available."
That decision did not lose this match. Penders was beaten from 12 yards after guessing wrong, then made a point-blank save from Wilson Isidor after Le Fée slipped a ball between two Chelsea defenders who got in each other's way, according to BBC Sport. Robin Roefs later held a Cole Palmer header and gathered a scooped effort from Malo Gusto. The 21-year-old deputy did enough to give his team a chance. The attack did not take it.
Possession without a punch
Chelsea finished with 68.7 percent of the ball, 10 shots to Sunderland's 9, and four shots on target to two, per ESPN's final match log. They still spent the first half almost entirely outside the area that decides games. NBC Sports said Morgan Rogers should have scored with a free header and that Palmer believed he should have had a penalty of his own on the edge of the box. After the interval Geovany Quenda, a late substitute, had a low shot deflected just wide.
Sunderland had to rewrite their plan in the fourth minute, when Granit Xhaka went off and Jules Ahoka came on. Their resistence held anyway. Brobbey and Chemsdine Talbi kept finding space, and Talbi curled an effort just wide as the home side protected the lead through seven minutes of added time.
There was a quieter full-circle detail in midfield. Jordan Henderson, born in Sunderland and a former Black Cat, was making the 700th appearance of his senior club career, OneFootball noted — 18 years and seven days after his debut, which came against Chelsea, for Sunderland. Alonso had said before the match that he picked Henderson because "he is so important for the team and is doing really well," not because of the homecoming.
Moises Caicedo started and captained after Friday's fitness check and shifted into central defense once Colwill was withdrawn at half-time. He was booked in the 76th minute. Alonso had already warned, via BBC Sport on Friday, that Sunderland's league position was a trap: "It doesn't matter about their position in the table, they deserve more points than they have managed to get."
Sunderland move onto 8 points from 10 matches and off the bottom of the table. Chelsea stay on 16 points from 10 and drop out of the top four after Liverpool's 3-1 win at Crystal Palace. Alonso has already said Martinez will use the international break to get used to the mask. Sunday suggested the more urgent question is what this attack does with the ball when it finally has it.
