Kieran Richardson

By The Black Cats
August 18 2009

Tonight's visitors to the Sunderland Stadium of Light are new boss Carlo Ancelotti's Chelsea. Chelsea scraped a hard fought 2-1 win against Hull in the dying minutes in their season opener at Stamford Bridge, A result in which a much improved Sunderland side will take a lot of heart from as Chelsea certainly did not look invincible.

However, Sunderland have a couple of their own problems - Kieran Richardson and Steed Malbranque - both key players for the black cats - are struggling with knocks picked up at the Reebok in the 1-0 win.

In that game new boys Lee Cattermole and Lorik Cana bossed the midfield so it will be interesting to see how they fair against the 'big boys'.

Martin Fulop will have to show the same form he showed at Bolton if we are going to take points from Chelsea tonight.

Kenwyne Jones will need to make John Terry's life a nightmare as he did 2 years ago - prompting Terry to beg his bosses to sign the Trinidad and Tobagan international - who Steve Bruce has recently likened to Chelsea star Didier Drogba.

Bruce said: "If anyone finishes above Chelsea they will win the league, in my opinion.

"They have some great players, the squad have been together a long time and they're geared towards winning things.

"Carlo Ancelotti's won the European Cup and Serie A and he'll want more. We know what to expect - a very tough game."

"Not many teams beat Chelsea. To be fair, we have to be at our best and we'll have a game plan to play against them."

Bruce added: "We'll have to do something tactically against them because if we take them on head to head they'll enjoy that with what they've got in their locker.

"We will have to do our jobs properly and hope we can produce a performance, particularly in the first 45 minutes.

"If we can do that, we've got a chance."

"I couldn't have wished for a more difficult first home game but we're looking forward to it," he added.

"The fans are important, of course. It's my first time in front of them, and after the reception on Saturday I want us to put on a performance for the home fans which shows them what we're trying to achieve."

Fans have been urged to arrive early tonight as the new Season card entry system will be in use for the first time and delays could occur.