Sunderland Fan View: Can the Black Cats end on a season high at Chelsea?

Now that relegation is confirmed and the last home game of the season has ended, a collective groan amongst supporters rings out – ‘thank God that is over’. Yet, for the Black Cats there is still one match left to play, or should that be ‘endure’? Playing champions Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday during what will inevitably be a carnival atmosphere will be challenging for David Moyes’ men to say the least. Can Sunderland end on a high?

After victory against Hull it looked like they could at least go into the summer with some momentum, a degree of uplift to carry through to the forthcoming season in the Championship. Performances have been mediocre since, save for perhaps 70 minutes against Arsenal. To that end it is difficult to envisage the Blues – with the pressure off – being anything less than buoyant against a frankly woeful Sunderland squad.

Returning to three at the back might give the Black Cats some degree of hope. It worked earlier in the season against Spurs and was hugely successful against Crystal Palace too with Moyes’ side cruising to a 4-0 away win. Interestingly captain John O’Shea also believes deploying wingbacks using this method may solve some of the issues, given his comments in the national press.

Let’s be honest though, 3-5-2 can’t work wonders given the state of affairs in which Sunderland find themselves. But, it would offer players such as Javier Manquillo and Bryan Oviedo an opportunity to play in their best positions. It also obviously allows for two strikers to be on the pitch giving an extra goal threat – something that has been severely lacking in recent months. That said, Victor Anichebe has looked far from fit since his early return from injury. He limped off after just half an hour against Swansea giving Moyes a headache over whom to play up top alongside Jermain Defoe should he wish to switch to three central defenders.

Perhaps it would be nice to see young Josh Maja get a run out instead. The Sunderland U23 striker is attracting a lot of attention at the moment from scouts and throwing him into a game with little practical importance for the club may allow Maja an opportunity to further develop his game.

On balance it can’t do any harm, yet having seen Maja play in Elliot Dickman’s U23 side in the Premier League International cup final recently he is certainly likely have nothing but a difficult time against Chelsea’s world class rear guard. It may prove another long afternoon for Sunderland and David Moyes.