Overview
Sunderland of coach Regis Le Bris had a fairly impressive first season returning to the Premier League, finishing in seventh place and winning the right to participate in the Europa League. However, whether they can repeat that achievement this season is still a question mark, especially in the context of increasingly fierce competition in the Premier League.
Sunderland started the 2026-2027 season with a 1-2 defeat to Ipswich Town last week. Le Bris' team conceded a decisive goal in the 90th minute by Jack Clarke.
Sunderland was also the team that was led in that match. Nilson Angulo managed to score an equalizer before halftime, but the inability to preserve the result against a newly promoted opponent certainly gave fans reason to worry.
More worryingly, Sunderland has only kept a clean sheet once in the last 7 official matches. Defense ability clearly needs to be improved if the Wearside team wants to compete in the top group this season.
The attack has also not brought the necessary stability. Sunderland scored 6 goals and conceded 7 goals in the last 4 matches, a statistic that quite clearly reflects the problems they are having to solve.
However, the upcoming confrontation will take place at home for the first time this season. The atmosphere at the Stadium of Light may add energy to Sunderland after the regrettable defeat in the opening round.
Meanwhile, Fulham is still getting used to the demands from new coach Alvaro Arbeloa, but they have created some positive signals since the 43-year-old strategist took over.
Fulham lost to Chelsea 2-3 in the Premier League opening match, but they caused no small difficulties for their city rivals throughout the match. Arbeloa's team created significant pressure but could not find an equalizer.
Despite the defeat, Gonzalo Garcia still had an impressive official debut. The Spanish striker joined Fulham from Real Madrid for a fee of 34 million pounds at the beginning of the month and immediately scored against Chelsea.
Garcia continued to impress when he scored another goal in Fulham's 3-0 victory over AFC Wimbledon in the Carabao Cup in the middle of the week. The 22-year-old player came on as a substitute and sealed the victory in injury time of the second half.
This victory brings more excitement to Fulham, especially when they have scored 5 goals in the first 2 matches of the 2026-2027 season. This is good luggage before the away trip to the Stadium of Light.
Fulham also has a superior head-to-head record against Sunderland when they are unbeaten in the last 5 encounters, including 4 wins and 1 draw. This series of matches started in December 2017 and includes both victories of Fulham against Sunderland in the Premier League last season.
Expected lineup:
Sunderland: Roefs, Meunier, Ballard, Alderete, Mandava, Sadiki, Xhaka, Hume, Le Fee, Angulo, Brobbey.
Fulham: Leno, Castagne, Bassey, Andersen, Robinson, Iwobi, Berge, Bobb, King, Palacios, Garcia.
The match between Sunderland and Fulham takes place at 8:00 p.m. on August 30 (Vietnam time).
