Published: 17:00, 27 October 2025 | Updated: 17:00, 27 October 2025

Sunderland clearly did not receive the memo. Promoted sides are not supposed to enjoy Premier League life as much as this, and certainly not a club that has been away for nearly a decade.

Newly-promoted clubs are supposed to go straight back down again. They are supposed to toil and suffer and prove that no amount of summer spending will be enough to keep you here. Did they not notice that all six promoted clubs over the past two seasons went straight back down again? Did they not read all the pieces about how it’s impossible to stay up these days?

This was a side, after all, that finished 24 points behind Burnley and Leeds in the race for automatic promotion in the Championship. One that needed a dramatic late goal to send them up via the play-offs.

Yet here they sit, fourth in the table after a stunning late win over Chelsea that briefly moved them second. Their 17 points from their opening nine Premier League games is the best by a...