Premier League Preview: Sunderland

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Hooligan Soccer

·12. August 2025

Premier League Preview: Sunderland

Last year’s finish: 4th (in Championship. Won the promotion play-off.)
First match: Saturday, August 16 10:00am ET vs. West Ham United
Where they’ll be after five : 3 pts. with 0W, 3D, 2L

Once again, the Stadium of Light will be hosting Premier League matches. It’s been a long, hard road for Sunderland to get back up to the top flight. They suffered back-to-back relegations in 2017 and 2018, chronicled in a Netflix documentary called Sunderland ‘Til I Die.

Transfer News

How bittersweet that the lad who scored the goal that secured them promotion, Tom Watson, had already been sold to Brighton for $11.4M. His name will always be celebrated (at least until he scores against them, then the scales are even). Their other bright young star, Jobe Bellingham, followed in his brother’s footsteps over to Borussia Dortmund only days after the promotion party. The only good news from this was the $53M funneled into the team’s coffers to help offset the inevitable player investment that comes with promotion.

OneFootball Videos

With a total spend of $123M for ten players, it’s certainly the most of the three promoted clubs. But they’ve managed to pull an exciting bunch together, and the acquisition list looks well thought out and craftily assembled.

Season Outlook

No sugarcoating here, please. In the past two PL seasons, the three up have become three down. It’s a strong likelihood that fate awaits the Black Cats. Their pre-seasons hasn’t been very promising either, with only 2 wins, a draw, and 5 losses. The competition hasn’t exactly been PL quality either. You should never judge a team from its pre-season, but oh golly, there needs to be some covalent bonding (aka chemistry) fast up front. They only scored seven goals in pre-season, four of those against a National League North side. Equally concerning is the defensive spine, where their keeper and two new center-backs have to get their communication in order.

Key Players

Forward Chelsea’s Marc Guiu was a savvy loan. He got six goals in under 600 minutes during last year’s Conference League run before suffering an injury. Steady playing time should only improve his edge. Wilson Isidor (15g/2a) and Eliezer Mayenda (10g/5a) will hope to hit the net at least as frequently as they did last season.
Midfield
This is where Sunderland has really bulked up. Granit Xhaka is the new grand old man of the side as 32 years of age. After two banner seasons at Leverkussen he’s back for more PL action. Sunderland will need his nous and experience. Simon Adringa impressed for Brighton but lacked opportunity under Hürlizter. Now he’ll be fully under the spotlight, and will need to show that the $28.5M was good business. Habib Diarra is a Senegalese midfielder who favors the right side, and had 4g/5a for Strasbourg last season. Despite limited minutes (less than 2000 over 43 games), Chemsdine Talbi earned 7g/2a with Club Brugge, including time in all eleven of their Champions Leagues matches. After important contributions in the second half of the season, loanee Enzo La Feé made the move permanent from AS Roma.
Defense Center-back Arthur Masuaku joins after leaving Beşiktaş in June. He’s joined by ex-Atlético Madrid’s Reinildo Mandava. At 31, these two join Xhaka as the only players older than 30 on the squad.
Goalkeeper Anthony Patterson is back. Last year he registered 14 clean sheets in 42 games and looks to have the starting position locked up. Dutch glove-man Robin Roefs, freshly signed from NEC Nijmegen, will be his back up.