Chelsea head to Sunderland on Sunday for the final match of the 2025/26 Premier League season, and the stakes are still live. The result at the Stadium of Light could help decide the remaining UEFA places, with only the top three clubs already sure of where they will finish.
For Chelsea, the visit to Wearside comes after a Tuesday win over Tottenham Hotspur at Stamford Bridge lifted them back to eighth. Sunderland are two places, one point and a substantial goal-difference gap below them, but they will take confidence from coming from behind to beat Everton at the weekend. They also won the reverse fixture at Stamford Bridge, a reminder that this is not the kind of final-day trip Chelsea can treat as routine.
Calum McFarlane said on Friday that Chelsea had no fresh injury concerns after the Tottenham victory, and there was better news on three players who could shape the afternoon. Joao Pedro and Levi Colwill both trained at Cobham, while Reece James also took part and will be assessed day by day. McFarlane said the club are hopeful Pedro and Colwill will be fit for Sunday, and that James remains in good condition even if Chelsea are still managing his workload carefully.
“Joao and Levi both trained today and that’s really promising,” McFarlane said. “We have another day of training tomorrow, so we will see how they are after that, but we’re hopeful they’ll both be fit for Sunday.” On James, he added: “Reece trained today and we’ll play it day by day with him. He’s fit and in a good condition, but we know that we’ve had to manage Reece correctly over the last few games.”
That matters because Chelsea may need Brighton & Hove Albion and Brentford to finish around them in the table if they are to move position on the last day. The room for change is narrow, and the mathematics only gets sharper when the season runs out of matches.
Chelsea’s history on Wearside offers some comfort. They have won 10, drawn two and lost only one of their 13 previous Premier League visits to Sunderland. That record includes a 3-1 win at the Stadium of Light on 24 May 2015, after the title had already been secured three weeks earlier. It also includes the strange day at Stamford Bridge on 21 May 2017, when Sunderland led in the third minute despite having already been relegated and Chelsea had been crowned Premier League winners nine days earlier.
Those were the kind of season-closers that could be played out without anxiety. Sunday is different. Chelsea arrive with work still to do, Sunderland have already shown they can turn a game around, and the final whistle will carry consequences beyond the two teams on the pitch.
