Sunderland became the first promoted team to make it through the play-offs with an away win against a top-half team since Brentford beat Chelsea in April 2022.
The Black Cats enjoyed a dream start to the season, gaining promotion to the Premier League through the play-offs.
Sunderland’s great start to 2025/26: What you need to know 👇
2nd place in the Premier League after victory over Chelsea, best start for a promoted side since 2008, a niche record against rivals Newcastle United, ‘well-earned’ position in the table
Sunderland defeated Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday to leapfrog to second place in the Premier League, their highest position in the top flight for almost 25 years.
They have won 17 of the 27 points, with only Manchester City (6) and Arsenal (3) conceding fewer goals (7) in the 2025/26 Premier League.
Regis Le Bris did a great job. After the final six teams went straight back into the Championship, it was great to see the promoted teams in action.
It would be a disgrace to Sunderland to say they were just ‘fighting on’. They have achieved more than that, outperforming fellow promoted sides Leeds United and Burnley, who also show more promise than their previous terrible six sides.
Read: Sunderland exposes Premier League coasters like uninspiring Chelsea and Fulham
The best stats when Sunderland beat Chelsea 👇
As mentioned above, teams that have been promoted to the Premier League in recent seasons have been struggling extremely hard.
That fact is underlined by Sunderland becoming the first Premier League team since April 2022 to win away from a top-half team in the play-offs. At this point, Chelsea were on the wrong side of another dramatic comeback.
The winners of the day were Brentford, who came from behind to win 4-1 at Stamford Bridge. Nottingham Forest, Luton Town and Southampton have each failed to do so once in the past three seasons.
Southampton couldn’t even beat top-half teams last season, let alone away from home.
Fair play to Sunderland. Sunderland deserved a win against a lackluster Blues side. Their remarkable resilience has been on display all season, but Saturday’s win may be the best example of their character.
In fact, no club has won more points from losing positions this season (seven), but Chelsea have dropped more points from winning positions (eight).
Their ability to fight back is aided by the option Regis Le Bris has on the bench. They scored three goals as substitutes, with Kemzuddin Talbi, who came on in the 65th minute, scoring the winning goal. Only Brighton (six) have more.
They sit second on 17 points, the most points a promoted team has picked up at this stage of a Premier League season since Hull City in 2008/09.
Here are some more stats for Sunderland fans to enjoy.
It was Sunderland’s first Premier League win at Chelsea since April 2014, when they ended Jose Mourinho’s 77-game unbeaten run. His 17 points is his highest score after nine games in the Premier League season. For the first time in Premier League history, both Sunderland and Newcastle scored the winning goal in the 90th minute on the same day.
Pundits react to Sunderland vs. Chelsea’s sensational win 🗣️
Sunderland have far exceeded expectations and Michael Carrick believes anyone who says they predicted this is lying.
“Anyone who is honest will say they didn’t expect Sunderland to get off to such a good start and full credit to them.
“They’ve had an incredible start with the amount of points they’ve already got and they’ll want to build on that. They looked very comfortable and calm for long periods of time, but also looked dangerous. They just stuck to that belief to get the win.”
“Probably a textbook away win against a bigger team.”
Ashley Williams was full of praise.
“I thought Sunderland absolutely deserved the win.
“For a team that won promotion last season, they had a great system in place.
“They were solid, but they played with a real belief that they could get something. I was really impressed with their attitude.
“Sunderland had a clear plan and were confident it would work. In the end it worked.”
Former Chelsea midfielder Steve Sidwell believes Sunderland’s form can continue.
“Chelsea couldn’t break through Sunderland’s red and white wall.
“This afternoon they defended phenomenally, they really did. The unit from defense to midfield to the front line was really good. They had the quality and composure to go find the winners.”
“Sunderland have great personalities and this could be a really great season for them.”
And Troy Deeney believes Sunderland’s strong start to the season has “paid off”.
“It’s been an incredible start and we’ve achieved a lot.
“I thought it was the amount of work they had done, the lack of emotional intelligence they showed, because most teams stand up and keep using the players who developed them, but Sunderland were ruthless.
“They said they would change the goalkeeper, they would change all the players more or less and we would try to get second place at this moment, but not only do they believe they can stay, they think, ‘Do you really think we can finish in the top 10?’ And if you said that a few months ago, Sunderland fans would say you were crazy.”
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