One year ago, following their promotion to the Premier League via the Championship Play-Offs, Sunderland were odds to be relegated straight back to England’s second tier. To many on Wearside, finishing 17th on goal difference would have constituted a successful season. And yet, here we are one year on, with Sunderland having qualified for the Europa League.
They did thanks to a final day victory over World Champions Chelsea, a side who despite that label, looked flat and uninspiring. Sunderland, however, were the complete antithesis of that. They were strong, powerful and full of determination, bullying Chelsea for large parts of the encounter. Both sides on the pitch could have qualified for Europe, but only one looked like they wanted to.
“With talent, with hard work, something can happen”, said Régis Le Bris following the full time whistle, praising the collective effort his players had just put in to achieve the priceless 2-1 victory. Of course, Sunderland were relying on other results to go their way in order to get into this position, but, as Le Bris said, “something can happen”. And it did.
The combination of a Trai Hume strike, Malo Gusto own goal, along with Brighton’s loss against Manchester United and Brentford’s draw with Liverpool, meant the euphoria of a seventh place finish for the Black Cats. Le Bris made clear that he and his players “trust the process, work hard [and] keep the same routine”. Whatever they had done, it had worked.
From the first whistle, there was only ever going to be one winner of this match. Sunderland were hungry, as they had been all season. Their relentless press hustled and harried Chelsea, to the point where something had to give eventually.
Quite fittingly for Sunderland, the opening goal was orchestrated by a pair of players who have been with the club since their days in League One. Luke O’Nien found Trai Hume, whose shot sailed past Robert Sánchez at his near post. For all of the new players that arrived at Sunderland last summer, the fact that it was those two who pushed them towards the finishing line made that goal extra special.
O’Nien and Hume could not win the game on their own though, so up stepped Granit Xhaka, Sunderland’s very own manager on the pitch, so to speak, to guide them toward the continent.
He made sure that Sunderland did not rest on their laurels, and instead attacked the start of the second half in the same way they had attacked the start of the first. Predictably, within minutes, the Black Cats had a second.
It was not the most aesthetically pleasing goal, given that Brian Brobbey’s scuffed shot deflected into the net off Cheslea’s Malo Gusto, but it was enough.
“His influence has been massive”, Le Bris said of Xhaka. “He’s a great player, first of all, because the way he plays on the pitch, it’s brilliant for a team - composure, always smart, with the belief that we can press and adapt in real time and he’s a great leader as well.”
Sunderland then did have to adapt in real time, as from nothing, Chelsea pulled a goal back - Cole Palmer finding the bottom corner from range with a shot that Robin Roefs will have been frustrated to have not kept out. Naturally, there grew a nervousness in the air, as Cheslea’s tails went up, but the subsequent sending off of Wesley Fofana for a second yellow card, allowed Xhaka and his men to steady the ship.
When the final whistle blew there were tears aplenty. Football is all about emotions, and this was Sunderland’s moment to savour in the sun, where every supporter, young and old, had to take a moment to grasp what they had witnessed.
Whatever happens after this point, no one of a red and white persuasion will forget how that moment and how it made them feel. What’s more, Sunderland’s players, from the old stalwarts O’Nien and Hume, to Xhaka, to local lad Chris Rigg all felt exactly the same as those in the stands. This had been a collective effort.
“We don’t need to change the attitudes”, Le Bris made clear, and no one will disagree with him on that.
