Boudewijn Zenden feels Sunderland are better prepared this season for the challenge posed by Chelsea.
Black Cats midfielder hoping to trouble league leaders
Boudewijn Zenden feels Sunderland are better prepared this season for the challenge posed by Chelsea.
The Black Cats are due at Stamford Bridge on Sunday for a meeting with the reigning Premier League champions and current league leaders.
Their last trip to West London saw them hammered 7-2, with Steve Bruce's side never able to get to grips with the Blues' fearsome attacking unit last term.
Zenden, though, insists Sunderland have improved considerably since January and does not expect to take a similar battering from his former employers this time around.
The Dutchman believes Bruce's side are a much stronger outfit defensively this season, with Tuesday's 1-1 draw at Tottenham proving how resilient they have become.
He is, however, aware that it would be foolish to sit back and soak up pressure against Chelsea, and he hopes the Black Cats can pose a few problems of their own in the final third.
"Maybe we are better set up to get clean sheets, but I'm still a fan of football," Zenden told
The Journal.
Frustrated
"I don't want to sit back and get wave after wave like we did in the first half against Tottenham.
"I do get a bit frustrated if we don't play football, if you only play with the long ball and it keeps coming back at us. I don't think we're good at that.
"We still want to get the ball on the floor and play, and have a bit of confidence to keep the ball."
Sunderland have taken points off Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham and Manchester City during Bruce's reign, making Chelsea the final member of the Premier League's elite that they are yet to conquer.
Zenden hopes that statistic can be changed on Sunday, with Sunderland more than capable of holding their own in the capital.
He added: "Sunday's going to be a massive game and a hard one. Then again, if you're well organised and you do the right things, you might get a result.
"Last year we got a bit of a spanking and it's up to us to make sure we do better. We only started playing in the second half and if you play against the big sides you can't just show up in the second half, you have to be there from the start."
