Cucurella has committed a foul in three of his last five Premier League appearances with two of these instances seeing him commit multiple infringement offences. Cucurella is naturally an aggressive fullback and doesn’t give his opposite winger a moments peace which are traits that can lead to him giving away a foul here.

Sunderland will set up to play in transition which means Cucurella will often find himself in high pressure situations where he has to commit a foul to stop the Black Cats getting to the Chelsea goal quickly. 

Cucurella often finds himself in these situations as an adventurous fullback that has to track back quickly after pushing on high into the left half space where Maresca likes him to operate.

Cucurella has committed 10 fouls across his eight Premier League appearances this season (1.43 per 90) and is likely to be faced up by former Chelsea player Bertrand Traore here. Traore has been bright in his early appearances for Sunderland, winning three fouls across just 152 minutes of Premier League football (1.78 per 90).

I’m a really big fan of Sadiki with his ability to cover ground and make effective challenges which mirrors him with players like Caicedo. He’s committed nine fouls across his eight Premier League appearances this season (1.14 per 90) and I’d expect him to have a real battle here with Chelsea’s midfield.

Sadiki’s main opponent is likely to be Enzo Fernandez who is just as all action in the middle of the park for Chelsea. Fernandez has won 10 fouls across his seven Premier League appearances this season (1.45 per 90) and will relish the battle against a player like Sadiki. 

Fernandez can find it difficult in these clashes at times as he isn’t the most athletic, though his partner in Caicedo has this athleticism to match Sadiki with the Ecuadorian averaging 1.60 fouls won per 90 this season.

Sadiki has committed a foul in three of his last five Premier League appearances. This is likely to be one of his tougher assignments in the middle of the park for Sunderland with Chelsea having many quality players in midfield areas who can work to draw at least one foul from Sadiki in this encounter.

I wouldn’t back either of these sides to keep their heads in this clash. Chelsea are one of the most petulant teams in the Premier League which isn’t the most surprising given the youthful age profile of their squad. Their recent red card streak gives us an insight into the temperament of this Chelsea squad. 

Sunderland have also seen red once this season but appear pretty passive when looking through their card and foul numbers so far this season. I expect these numbers to rise over the next few weeks and months as Sunderland enter the most testing period of the season having had a pretty fortunate start in terms of fixtures.

Newly promoted sides usually end up towards the top of the card count come the end of the season and I think Chelsea can start to bring out that aggressive side in Sunderland which lay dormant for now. Chelsea have received 17 yellow cards and three red cards across their eight Premier League matches this season (2.5 per game). 

Sunderland have picked up 2+ cards in four of their eight Premier League matches this season with these games producing 24 match cards in total (3.0 per game). The referee for this game is Andrew Madley who has handed out seven yellow cards across his two appointments in the Premier League this season (3.50 per game).

Chelsea look like they’re starting to click after a hectic start to the season marred by red cards, injuries and mistakes as the Blues deal with the hangover of the Club World Cup and another extremely young squad. Maresca has coached this side to win their last four matches across all competitions which will do wonders for the Blues’ confidence ahead of this clash.

One of the key areas that Maresca set out to improve when he first became Chelsea boss was to improve their record at Stamford Bridge. There’s still work to be done before it can be considered a fortress but Chelsea have been really strong at home this calendar year with the Blues winning 12 of their 19 home matches last season and avoiding defeat in three of their four games so far this term.

Sunderland’s strength is definitely at the Stadium of Light. They’ve won just one of their four away matches so far this season which was a 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest during the disastrous, and short, Ange spell at the club. These aren’t games that Regis Le Bris will be targeting as the ones that can aid them in survival so I’d expect Sunderland to sit deep and look to pick off Chelsea on the break.

Chelsea have plenty of experience in breaking down low blocks having faced them regularly under Maresca and I think the presence of Guiu will aid Chelsea here with the Blues previously opting for Joao Pedro up front who is a bit wasted as a striker.