Sunderland Are On The Rise…Bring On Chelsea!
· Yahoo Sports
If one hallmark of the longtime Sunderland fan is a lingering sense of pessimism and a worry that we can’t enjoy the heady times and the memorable moments without being shadowed by an imminent sense of doom and feeling vulnerable to a sudden downturn in fortune, what of the emotions we’re all doubtless feeling at the moment?
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It was writ large in the reactions of the players when Brian Brobbey, Enzo Le Fée and Wilson Isidor turned the tide at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Sunday, rendering Merlin Röhl’s opener inconsequential and giving everyone associated with Sunderland another magical memory during this season of unexpected thrills and promise.
It was expressed in the celebrations of the travelling red and white contingent packed into a corner of Everton’s shiny new stadium and who had a ringside seat as we rallied from 1-0 down to emerge victorious.
It was all there — red, white and true. Not a flash in the pan or a fluky turnaround but the kind of victory that this side seems to take pride in securing and that we thoroughly deserved.
A Sunday trip to what became our own Mersey paradise led to a hugely impressive away victory and a win that’ll carry the Lads into Sunday’s final game against Chelsea with their belief soaring and our chances of securing European football (words I can scarcely believe I’ve typed) alive.
OK, we need to summon the energy to see off the Blues and for the cards to fall favourably elsewhere, but to even be in this position is quite staggering and it’s also no accident.
Of course, getting one over on David Moyes — whose destructive presence in the Sunderland dugout during that ill-fated 2016/2017 campaign set in motion the process that we’ve spent the best part of a decade recovering from — was deeply satisfying, but this was also much more.
From Stamford Bridge to Selhurst Park; Anfield, Elland Road, St James’ Park and Bramley-Moore Dock, the Lads and their fans have done themselves proud on the road this season. Coupled with our once-fearsome home record, the net result is a Sunderland side that’s given itself a wonderful chance of becoming a genuinely competitive top flight outfit — which is all I’ve ever wanted.
Are we watching a perfect football team, one without flaws or weaknesses that may need to be addressed if we want to ensure that 2026/2027 sees further progress? Absolutely not. And that’s not a bad thing. Port Vale, Brentford and Nottingham Forest were nasty reminders of what can happen when you get it wrong, but they’ll be lessons heeded and filed away for future reference.
Consistently competitive top flight teams don’t arrive fully formed.
Instead, they’re built over time, through smart man management, belief in potential and the patience to allow players to develop — and Régis Le Bris has earned the time, space and liberty to continue to implement his vision for Sunderland.
Moulding this kind of diverse and hugely talented group of players into a cohesive unit is a feat seldom accomplished by a Sunderland head coach in our recent history. To do it immediately following promotion, in the white-hot atmosphere of the Premier League and with the need to ensure a relegation battle was avoided is something else entirely.
To say this wild, crazy and utterly enthralling 2025/2026 season has surpassed expectations would be a masterpiece of understatement, and to say that the Lads have taken us on the kind of thrill ride that Blackpool Pleasure Beach would love to unveil one day doesn’t seem to do it justice.
We’re currently occupying the kind of territory that we’ve not reached since the heady days of the Peter Reid era, and I’d argue that with the resources currently at our disposal, we’re more well-placed to progress with real purpose and for this to represent the start of something sustainable instead of a brief flirtation with the upper echelons of the footballing pyramid.
We’ve defied the doubters who claimed we’d run out of steam and that a supposedly favourable early-season run had burdened us with a false sense of security.
Remember all that talk of twenty four-point gaps, questionable recruitment and how we’d supposedly squeaked rather then stormed into the top flight? All utterly meaningless now.
We’ve made a mockery of the so-called Opta supercomputer’s prediction that we’d sink without a trace, and we’ve proven that XG ratings, flashy metrics and heat maps will always play second fiddle to togetherness, fighting spirit, creative flair and the willingness to go the extra mile in order to eke out results.
This is a group of players whose ability you can’t help but admire.
It’s a team whose passion, love for the game and connection with the supporters is endearing, and it’s led by a head coach whose mentality is a perfect fit for our club: passionate without being hot headed, composed without being cold, and hard-nosed without being robotic.
And so, to the final game. The flags will wave, the flares will be set off and the volume will swell once again — and then it’ll be up to the Lads to do the business.
It goes without saying that Sunday’s visit of Chelsea will be a hugely significant occasion, but unlike those colossal playoff clashes with Sheffield Wednesday, Luton and Coventry City, the stakes aren’t as high and the future won’t be defined by the outcome.
To bring European football to Wearside for the first time in most of our lifetimes would be something special, but it’s not definitive and it shouldn’t dishearten anyone if we were to fall short.
Nobody would’ve pegged us a European challenger this season and whatever happens against the Blues, I think we can rest assured that our club and those that represent it are truly on a new path, one that’ll hopefully yield even more iconic moments, more exciting times and an even stronger sense of belonging in years to come.
Go for it, lads. There’s everything to gain and little to lose, and you’ve got the chance to become Sunderland heroes — for more than one day.