Sunderland beat Chelsea 1-0 at home on Sunday and climbed off the bottom of the Premier League. Enzo Le Fée scored the winner from the penalty spot. Chelsea drop out of the top four, The Guardian reported.
The penalty came in the 36th minute, according to the BBC. Levi Colwill brought down striker Brian Brobbey, and referee Jarred Gillett pointed to the spot. Colwill argued that Brobbey had been holding his shirt, but the decision stood. Le Fée sent goalkeeper Mike Penders the wrong way and found the bottom-right corner.
Chelsea had their own penalty claim earlier in the half. Luke O'Nien brought down Cole Palmer, but VAR ruled the contact was just outside the box. Brobbey troubled Chelsea all afternoon. The BBC rated him 8 out of 10 and said he beat Colwill in several aerial duels. Colwill, who was also booked, got a 4 and was taken off at half-time. The Guardian described him as injured.
Sunderland's afternoon started badly. Captain Granit Xhaka went off injured inside three minutes. The hosts were also without defender Dan Ballard through injury and Omar Alderete through suspension. Still, the patched-up back line gave goalkeeper Robin Roefs a quiet afternoon, even though Sunderland had only a third of possession.
Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso made no excuses about the officiating. "We didn't produce enough to deserve to win," he said. "We lacked a bit of patience and creativity." On Brobbey, Alonso said the striker can be stopped, "but only when you defend better than we did." Sunderland head coach Régis Le Bris praised "the identity, the intensity, the togetherness" of his team and the way they managed the game.
The win follows a home defeat to Dinamo Zagreb in Europe on Thursday, after which the mood at the club had been bleak, The Guardian reported. Sunderland also beat Chelsea on the final day of last season in May. That result secured European football for the first time in 53 years. The game opens a tough run of four fixtures leading into the Tyne-Wear derby next month.