Match talking points will appear here before kick-off.

• 1
  Sunderland are into their second season back in the Premier League and have started like a team that's decided top-flight football isn't going to scare them — a 1-0 win over Fulham and a battling 1-1 draw at Brentford where they arguably had the better chances and rattled the post.
• 2
  Striker Wilson Isidor scored the winner against Fulham just days after signing a new contract with the club — good timing, and exactly the kind of moment that makes a new deal look smart within a week.
• 3
  Last season Sunderland provided one of the division's most dramatic subplots without really meaning to: a 1-0 win over Tottenham in April ended with Spurs captain Cristian Romero in tears and out for the rest of the season with knee ligament damage.
• 4
  It's the sort of result that gets brought up by other clubs' fans more than Sunderland's own — a reminder that a newly promoted side can do real damage to a club with much bigger ambitions.
• 5
  Two seasons ago that Romero afternoon would've been the story of Sunderland's season; now it barely comes up in their own build-up, which says a lot about how quickly they've settled into staying up rather than just scraping by.

• 1
  Fulham handed the manager's job to Alvaro Arbeloa this summer — yes, the former Real Madrid and Liverpool right-back — and it has been a brutal start. Three straight defeats, to Chelsea, Sunderland and Crystal Palace, have left them bottom of the table alongside Coventry.
• 2
  Reports out of the club describe genuine unrest — boos at the final whistle against Palace, and pundits already naming Arbeloa as the manager most likely to be sacked first this season. That's a serious level of pressure just three games into a new job.
• 3
  It's a strange one for Fulham, who have spent the last few years as the model of unglamorous, sensible mid-table stability. That reputation is under real pressure for the first time in a while, and nobody at the club looks entirely sure why it's unravelled so fast.
• 4
  They face a Liverpool side still finding its feet under new boss Andoni Iraola, which on paper is a winnable fixture. Fulham haven't looked like a team capable of taking winnable positions so far this season, though, which is the more honest way to frame it.
• 5
  If you want to sound informed, don't just say Fulham are struggling — mention that the dressing room is reportedly uneasy with Arbeloa's confrontational style. That's the actual story here, not just three lost matches.