RICKY SBRAGIA knew when Chelsea failed to reach the Champions League final that Sunderland’s task of staying in the Premier League would be made harder – and his fears were realised last night.

Guus Hiddink, the Blues manager, has indicated that he will field his strongest side at the Stadium of Light on Sunday, when Sunderland know three points will keep them in the Premier League.

And having claimed just six points from the last 36 available, Sbragia could have done with any help that came his way as he attempts to keep top-flight football on Wearside.

Much of the build up to Sunday has been made of the likelihood that Manchester United will field an under-strength team at Hull City, where the result will have a huge bearing on who drops into the Championship with West Brom.

But rather than accusing United, Sbragia is just disappointed Chelsea didn’t join them in the Champions League final in Rome, having lost out to Barcelona two weeks ago.

“I was gutted when Chelsea conceded in injury-time, gutted for Chelsea,” said Sbragia.

“You look at things ahead, I was thinking about if they had been playing Wednesday in Rome and then the FA Cup final the following Saturday, so the dilemma is that he would have had to pick his team. I was disappointed because they never got to the final and they deserved to and circumstances went against them on that day.”

With six days to go before Chelsea’s FA Cup final date with Everton, Hiddink feels naming his preferred line-up at Sunderland will actually aid his team’s preparations.

“I don’t want to rest a lot of players because they need to maintain their physical shape and also the way we want them to play,” said Hiddink.

“If I rest too many people then I don’t think it’s good preparation for Wembley.”

While there may not be the kudos of lifting silverware at stake on Sunday, Sbragia is under no illusions about the importance of making sure Sunderland stay up.

As well as the predictions that relegation to the Championship would cost Sunderland around £50m, there is also a need to secure Premier League status to convince American investor Ellis Short to put more money up for team strengthening.

Sbragia said: “It’s our cup final on Sunday and we’ve got to deal with it. We’ll work on a formation that will win us the game and deal with the problems we’ll have when Chelsea are in possession.

“I’m confident we’ll stay up and we’ve got to go and do it.

I can remember nobody giving Bradford a hope in hell against Liverpool in 2000 and they went out and won 1-0 so it can always happen. We’ve got to go out and be braver and hope Chelsea have a bad game and that Chelsea might have the cup final on their minds.”

When Sbragia took over from Roy Keane in December he envisaged Sunderland would stay up, but clearly hoped safety would have been achieved long ago.

The situation has led to suggestions that he will not be retained as manager once the Chelsea fixture has passed, with Martin Jol, Steve Mc- Claren and Slaven Bilic three of the names being touted as a replacement.

With a holiday to Australia on the cards to see his daughter in the next few weeks, the situation is likely to become clearer in the next seven days.

But he has warmed to the role, even if it hasn’t gone exactly to plan.

“I thought we’d get over that line before now and fortunately for us the clubs under us haven’t taken their chances,” said Sbragia. “Our fate’s always been in our own hands but we haven’t taken it.

“There will be twists and turns on the last day but hopefully it doesn’t go against us and we don’t want to be looking at other results.”

■ Tickets are available for Sunderland’s game with Chelsea. Under-16s tickets are from £12 and adults from £28 when purchased in advance at the ticket office.

Cash turnstiles 10 and 12 will be open from 2:30pm on the day of the game, with all tickets priced at £33.