Sunderland host Fulham in the Premier League on Sunday.
It will be prime pub quiz question material in years to come: “Who were the only team to beat Sunderland twice during their long-awaited first campaign back in the Premier League?” Those with a short memory and a sensible disposition might be tempted to scribble down the usual suspects - Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool perhaps - but of course, the answer, somewhat bemusingly, is Fulham.
On Sunday, the Cottagers travel to the Stadium of Light with a unique distinction in their back pocket. While many confidently consigned Regis Le Bris’ men to the role of top flight punchbags before a ball had so much as been kicked last term, one way or another, the Black Cats found the means of gazumping their way to at least one point against pretty much everybody in the division - except this weekend’s visitors to Wearside.
Last November, down at Craven Cottage, Sunderland came unstuck at the death on a sodden afternoon as Raul Jimenez punished a momentary lapse in defensive wherewithal on the banks of the Thames. Three months later, back in the North East, and the Black Cats produced an uncharacteristically lacklustre home display as they limped their way to a 3-1 defeat. Again, Jimenez was the thorn in their side, netting a brace as Alex Iwobi put pay to any lingering hopes of an undeserved comeback late on.
Now, the good news from a Mackem perspective is that Jimenez - that sharpshooting nuisance in residence - has since left Fulham to return to Wolves, the club at which he first made his name in England. The bad news is that his replacement is already starting to look like a stellar alternative.
It wasn’t so very long ago that Sunderland themselves were being linked with an ambitious swoop for Gonzalo Garcia, the Spanish youth international who clambered up through the ranks of Real Madrid’s esteemed academy system and into a role on the periphery of the first team before being deemed surplus to requirements at the Bernabéu this summer. Following his departure, he opted to link up with former boss Alvaro Arbeloa in West London, and so far, it very much looks to be a mutually beneficial partnership. Two games have yielded two goals at a rate of one every 54 minutes, and the early signs are that Fulham have unearthed a real gem.
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Behind him, Cesar Palacios has been keeping YouTube compilation makers busy all preseason long, and while the loss of Harry Wilson represents an obvious and sizeable blow, Fulham have retained a decent enough core of a squad that finished 11th last season - just two points adrift of Sunderland.
In the wake of Marco Silva’s departure from the dugout, many onlookers tipped the Cottagers for a painful campaign and a possible scrap for survival. That, of course, may still come to pass; we are just one game into the new Premier League season, and Fulham lost it.
But Sunderland will no doubt be acutely aware of the threat their visitors could pose on Sunday, and if for whatever reason a reminder is needed, they only have to look as far back as last season and the anomalous headache their opponents from the capital caused them.
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