Chelsea v Sunderland

TEAM NEWS

Chelsea are sweating on the fitness of Eden Hazard after he suffered a hip injury in the defeat at Leicester.

Gary Cahill, Pedro and Baba Rahman are all pushing for recalls as the Blues look to end a two-game losing run.

Sunderland remain without Lee Cattermole and Sebastian Larsson due to respective back and knee injuries.

Sebastian Coates is a doubt having missed training this week with flu, but Younes Kaboul is expected to be fit.

MOTD COMMENTATOR'S NOTES

Jonathan Pearce: "Even in his last week it was all about him. His players had "betrayed" his work. HE had delivered the title by overachieving with players who weren't really up to it.

"Now the Mourinho soap opera starring, directed by and produced by himself has been pulled.

"Grim stats read nine defeats in the opening 16 games - Chelsea's worst start since 1978-79's relegation.

"Though Mourinho insisted Chelsea weren't in a relegation fight, Premier League history suggests they have less than a 50-50 chance of staying up!

"Of the 92 teams to have 15 points or fewer from the opening 16 games - 52% of them went down."

Twitter: @jpearcefootball 

WHAT THE MANAGERS SAY

Chelsea captain John Terry on Jose Mourinho's departure: "Thank you doesn't seem enough. Sad, sad day.

"Going to miss you boss. The very best I have ever worked with, unbelievable memories together."

Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce: I'm not sure whether it'll make my job harder or not to be honest.

"Everybody expects a reaction when a manager gets sacked, and sometimes there is and sometimes there isn't.

"It's fair to say that if we were to win, it would put a huge amount of pressure on Chelsea because we'd end up on 15 points, the same as they are."

LAWRO'S PREDICTION

The way things were going at Chelsea, it was inevitable that Jose Mourinho would be sacked.

I would expect Black Cats boss Sam Allardyce to play with his five-man defence on Saturday, try to keep the game goalless and play on the break, but I don't see it working out for him.

Lawro's full predictions v comedian and Phoenix Nights star Justin Moorhouse.

• Think you can do better than Lawro? Predict the score for this match and the rest of this round's Premier League fixtures in ourPredictor game.

• MATCH FACTS

  Head-to-head
  • Chelsea beat Sunderland 3-1 on the final day of last season to secure the 26th win of their title-winning campaign.
  • The Blues have won 18 of their last 21 Premier League matches against Sunderland (D1, L2), scoring over 2.5 goals on average.
  • Yet the Black Cats have won on two of their last five trips to Chelsea.
  Chelsea
  • Chelsea have taken only four points from the last 21 available to them (W1, D1, L5).
  • They have been beaten in nine of their 16 league games - only the bottom two of Aston Villa (12) and opponents Sunderland (10) have lost more.
  • The Blues have 15 points from their opening 16 Premier League games. They had 39 after 16 matches last season.
  • Chelsea's only home defeat in 98 league matches under Jose Mourinho prior to this season was a 2-1 defeat to Sunderland in April 2014.
  • Diego Costa has scored just three goals in 13 league appearances this campaign, compared to 12 goals in his first 13 league games last season.
  Sunderland
  • All three of Sunderland's wins have been when they have kept a clean sheet; those three matches are the only times they haven't conceded this season.
  • Their only away win this term came in London - a 1-0 win at Crystal Palace last month.
  • No club has conceded more away goals than the 21 let in by the Black Cats.
  • Sunderland have allowed their opponents a league-high 99 shots on target.
  • Sam Allardyce has lost 15 matches against Chelsea as a manager - only Harry Redknapp, with 17, has lost more.