Chelsea player ratings vs Sunderland as Palmer ends drought but 10-man Blues collapse

Cole Palmer finally scored again, but Chelsea still left the Stadium of Light with a 2-1 defeat and no European football next season. Trai Hume put Sunderland ahead with a volley on 25 minutes, Malo Gusto's mishit deflection turned Brian Brobbey's shot into his own net five minutes into the second half, and Wesley Fofana was sent off for a second yellow after dragging Wilson Isidor down 62 minutes in.

Palmer was Chelsea's best attacker

Bobby Vincent of football.london said Palmer scored his first goal in well over two months, and that was the clearest positive from Chelsea's night. Palmer's 7.6 rating was the best of any Chelsea starter in the match data, which fits the eye test as well as the scoreline. He was the player most likely to make something happen, even if the team around him did not give that goal much of a platform.

Pedro Neto was also one of the better performers, with a 7.2 rating and the assist for Palmer's goal, while Trevoh Chalobah also finished on 7.2 after coming on and offering more stability than the starting back line. The encouraging part for Chelsea is limited to those individual ratings. The broader picture was still a team that kept making costly errors.

Fofana's red card summed up the night

Fofana's 5.2 rating matched the decisive moment of the game. Chelsea had already been punished by Hume's first-half volley and Brobbey's shot turning in off Gusto, but the second yellow for hauling Isidor down removed any realistic chance of a late response.

Bobby Vincent called it Fofana's second red card of the season and Chelsea's 11th in all competitions. That is the sort of figure that tells you the discipline issue is not a one-off. It was also the point where the game stopped feeling salvageable, because Chelsea were chasing it with 10 men and a back line that had already looked uneasy.

Sánchez made five saves, but the goalkeeper was left exposed too often for that to become a rescue act. Chelsea finished 10th in the Premier League and will not play European soccer in 2026-27. Palmer's goal was a welcome break in the drought, but the season still ended with Chelsea outside Europe and Fofana walking off after another sending-off.