Henderson makes first senior Sunderland start against Chelsea

18 August 2009 19:28
JORDAN Henderson will make his first competitive Sunderland start in this evening's Premier League home game with Chelsea. Henderson replaces Steed Malbranque in the only change to the starting line-up that secured a 1-0 win at Bolton on Saturday. The youngster replaced Malbranque at the Reebok Stadium and, with the Frenchman having failed to recover from injury in time for tonight's game, Henderson will start at the Stadium of Light. Having scored the opening goal of his Sunderland career against the Trotters, Darren Bent will continue to partner Kenwyne Jones in attack. Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti has made a host of changes to the side that scraped past Hull at the weekend, with Ricardo Carvalho, Florent Malouda, John Obi Mikel and Nicolas Anelka all dropping out of the starting line-up. SUNDERLAND (4-4-2): Fulop, Bardsley, Ferdinand, Collins, McCartney, Henderson, Cana, Cattermole, Richardson, Jones, Bent. Subs: Gordon, Nosworthy, Edwards, Campbell, Leadbitter, Reid, Healy. CHELSEA (4-4-2): Cech, Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry, A Cole, Ballack, Essien, Lampard, Deco, Kalou, Drogba. Subs: Hilario, Carvalho, Shevchenko, Mikel, Malouda, Sturridge, Anelka.

Source: Northern_Echo