Sunderland welcome Chelsea to the Stadium of Light on Wednesday evening, hoping to extend their winning streak at home to four games. The Black Cats have had an upturn in form under former Chelsea player Gus Poyet, though are still five points adrift of safety heading into the midweek round of games.
Sunderland vs. Chelsea: Preview and TV schedule
Chelsea will hope to close the gap on league leaders Arsenal with a win over Sunderland on Wednesday.
Ian Walton
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Second-placed Chelsea may be strong favourites to pick up a win, but they've hardly been perfect on the road this season. Away from Stamford Bridge they've won just two of their six league matches, and will be hoping to go the way of Manchester City and fall victim to a Sunderland giantkilling.
The hosts will be without defender Carlos Cuéllar, while Keiren Westwood and John O'Shea are both doubtful with injury problems. Chelsea have Marco van Ginkel and Samuel Eto'o sidelined, with David Luiz likely to miss out once again with a knee injury.
Sunderland injuries and suspensions
Out: Carlos Cuéllar (hip). In doubt: Keiren Westwood (shoulder), John O'Shea (groin).
Chelsea injuries and suspensions
Out: Marco van Ginkel (knee), Samuel Eto'o (muscle). In doubt: David Luiz (knee).
Projected lineups
Sunderland: Vito Mannone; Andrea Dossena, Wes Brown, John O'Shea, Phil Bardsley; Sebastian Larsson, Craig Gardner, Ki Sung-Yueng; Emanuele Giaccherini, Steven Fletcher, Fabio Borini.
Chelsea: Petr Čech; Cesar Azpilicueta, John Terry, Gary Cahill, Branislav Ivanović; Ramires, Michael Essien; Eden Hazard, Juan Mata, Oscar; Fernando Torres.
Match Date/Time: Wednesday, 7:45 p.m. local, 2:45 p.m. ET
Venue: Stadium of Light, Sunderland, England
TV: Premier League Extra Time, DirecTV (U.S.), Sportsnet (Canada).
Online: NBC Sports Live Extra (U.S.).
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