Sunderland secured their first league win since August and climbed off the bottom of the table with a 1-0 victory over Chelsea at the Stadium of Light. Enzo Le Fee scored the decisive goal from the penalty spot in the 36th minute, sending Chelsea goalkeeper Mike Penders the wrong way after Brian Brobbey was fouled inside the area.
The breakthrough was engineered by Brobbey, who proved to be a dominant focal point in attack and overpowered Levi Colwill in several aerial duels. After threatening with an earlier solo effort, Brobbey drew a foul from Colwill, resulting in a yellow card for the Chelsea defender and the match-winning penalty. The setback compounded a difficult afternoon for Colwill, who was replaced by Estevao Willian at half-time. Sunderland had to overcome an early setback of their own when captain Granit Xhaka went off injured after less than three minutes, bringing substitute Jules Ahoka into the midfield battle.
Chelsea pressed for a route back into the contest but were held at bay by a resolute Sunderland defence. The visitors thought they might have earned a spot-kick when Cole Palmer drove into the area and went down under contact from Luke O'Nien, but VAR determined the foul occurred just outside the box. Chelsea reshuffled their lineup, shifting Moises Caicedo to a makeshift centre-back position and bringing on Malo Gusto for his 100th Premier League appearance alongside Danny Welbeck, who glanced a header wide shortly after coming on.
Penders, who kept his starting place despite talk of Emiliano Martinez returning, made a vital late save from Wilson Isador to keep the deficit at one goal. However, Sunderland stood firm to seal their second league win of the campaign, moving off the foot of the standings behind a Player of the Match performance from Brobbey.
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