The Stadium of Light awaits the Blues shortly, and the starting eleven has a few surprises in it...

Torres is on the bench. Anelka is up front with Mata and Sturridge, which I am actually rather excited about seeing. Meireles also gets a start. Big Pete is back. Mikel not included supposedly because he's had to do a lot of travelling and didn't seem to return to training until yesterday.

Chelsea XI: Cech, Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry, Cole, Ramires, Lampard, Meireles, Mata, Sturridge, Anelka.

Sunderland XI: Mignolet, Bardsley, Bramble, Brown, Richardson, Larsson, Cattermole, Gardner, Colback, Sessegnon, Bendtner.

Bramble always seems to end up having a good match against us. We'll see if it happens again. And we're up against the greatest striker in the world in Bendtner (according to... Nicholas Bendtner). And now that I've made fun of him... watch him get a goal. That'll teach me.

Really, I hope to see a lot of chances created for once (and finished) and to see our defense hold up better than it has been in these first few matches. More communication and no stupid mistakes, please.

It's nice to have the club football back again. Come on the Blues!