Sunderland vs Chelsea team news and line-ups: Injured Eden Hazard OUT and John Terry remains out of the squad
The Blues skipper has been a bit-part player this season as injuries have cost him a place in the side
WILLIAN will replace injured Eden Hazard for Chelsea after the Belgian did not travel to the North East.
And Antonio Conte has not yet seen fit to welcome back skipper John Terry after he missed the West Brom match with a slight muscular problem.
Chelsea haven't missed their centre-back hero, as David Luiz has stepped up in his absence and is developing into a top-class defender.
The Blues can make it ten consecutive league wins on Wednesday night if they beat Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.
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Arsenal's record of 13 straight victories is in sight, and Conte may be reluctant to change a winning side that has only shipped in 11 goals all season.
Terry who has been plagued with injuries this year has been restricted to just six minutes of playing time since mid-September and the 35-year-old is likely to find opportunities of breaking into the team hard to come by.
Line-ups
SUNDERLAND: Pickford; Jones, Kone, Djilobodji, Van Aanholt; Denayer, O'Shea, Kirchhoff; Borini, Defoe, Januzaj
CHELSEA: Courtois; Azpilicueta, Cahill, Luiz; Moses, Fabregas, Kante, Alonso; Willian, Costa, Pedro
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Sunderland will be without midfielder Jack Rodwell who is suffering with a hamstring injury, and striker Fabio Borini continues to miss out with a hip injury.
The Black Cats have been rocked by the news that starlet Duncan Watmore has been ruled out for the rest of the season after badly damaging his knee last week against Leicester City.
Other long term injuries for David Moyes' side include Lee Cattermole and defender Paddy McNair.
Match stats
- Chelsea haven't lost successive Premier League games against Sunderland since March 2001.
- Sunderland beat Chelsea 3-2 in May, this after winning just once against the Blues in their previous 10 Premier League games (D1 L8).
- Jermain Defoe has scored against Chelsea with four different Premier League clubs, the only player to have done this (West Ham, Tottenham, Portsmouth and Sunderland).
- This fixture has seen 111 goals scored in 30 Premier League games, averaging at 3.7 goals per game.
- Chelsea are unbeaten in their last 15 Premier League games played on a Wednesday, last losing to QPR in January 2013 (W8 D7).
- Only two teams have stopped Diego Costa either scoring or assisting in the Premier League this season (in 15 games) - Manchester United at Stamford Bridge and Arsenal at the Emirates.
- Sunderland have won their last two Premier League home games - they haven't won three in a row at the Stadium of Light since February 2012.
- Chelsea are on a run of four successive Premier League away victories and will be looking to win five in a row on the road for the first time since April 2015.