Chelsea are the visitors to the Stadium of Light on Sunday as Sunderland bring a memorable season to an end.
Chelsea interim manager Calum McFarlane has called for ‘one more push’ from his players as they look to secure a European place with a positive result at Sunderland on Sunday afternoon.
It has been another disappointing season for the Blues and another campaign that has brought significant change with McFarlane stepping up to take interim charge on two occasions following the departures of former managers Enzo Maresca and Liam Rosenior. Sunday’s visit to the Stadium of Light will represent the final game of the the Blues academy coach’s second temporary stint and he will hope to bring down the curtain on his reign in style by ensuring the club secure a spot in next season’s Europa Conference League or Europa League by avoiding a defeat on Wearside.
Sunderland are also firmly in the mix for a top eight place and a win over the Blues, coupled with results elsewhere falling in their favour, would mean Regis Le Bris’ men will end their first season back in the Premier League by securing European qualification for only the second time in their entire history. However, McFarlane has insisted Sunday’s visitors are ‘more than capable’ of earning the result they need to land a top eight spot and dishing out some disappointment to the Black Cats.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference, the Blues interim manager said: “Yeah, it's going to be a great game. Both teams need to win as well. Sunderland have had a brilliant season. They're a really good side, really challenging side, causing you problems. So yeah, we need one more push, one more big game, three points and hopefully get ourselves up that table. You said Sunderland need a win. There's no point thinking about that really. We knew from the beginning of the season that we'd have Sunderland on the last day of the season. So we need to face what's in front of us. We're more than capable of going there and winning that game, but we know we have to be at our best to get three points because they're a very good side.”
Involvement
Chelsea's English midfielder #10 Cole Palmer (2L) and Chelsea's English defender #24 Reece James (C) take part in a team training session at the Chelsea training ground in Cobham, west of London on November 24, 2025, on the eve of their UEFA Champions League league phase football match against Barcelona. (Photo by Adrian Dennis / AFP via Getty Images)placeholder image
Chelsea's English midfielder #10 Cole Palmer (2L) and Chelsea's English defender #24 Reece James (C) take part in a team training session at the Chelsea training ground in Cobham, west of London on November 24, 2025, on the eve of their UEFA Champions League league phase football match against Barcelona. (Photo by Adrian Dennis / AFP via Getty Images) | AFP via Getty Images
There was a triple boost for McFarlane ahead of his final game in charge of the Blues after he confirmed Levi Colwill, Joao Pedro and England international Reece James have all trained this week - although the interim manager admitted a final decision of the latter’s involvement is yet to be made.
He said: “Reece has trained today. We're playing a day by day with Reece. He's fit, he's in good condition. We just know that we have to manage Reece correctly over the last couple of games. He played a lot of minutes in the final. I'll go back to it, it's a tough game. It's a really good side, so it's going to take a lot out of you. We didn't want to risk him on Tuesday. We felt like we had enough to see the game out, which was correct. We're hoping to have Reece back on Sunday.”
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