Chelsea boss admits injury crisis is taking its toll after Sunderland defeat
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has admitted that several of his key players are carrying injuries, contributing to his side’s late 2-1 defeat to Sunderland on Saturday at Stamford Bridge.
The loss ended the Blues’ four-game winning streak and exposed the physical toll of a congested fixture schedule.
Alejandro Garnacho’s fourth-minute strike had given Chelsea an early lead, but Wilson Isidor levelled before halftime, and Chemsdine Talbi’s stoppage-time winner sealed all three points for the newly-promoted visitors, who temporarily climbed to second in the Premier League table.
“Several players are managing injuries”
Maresca revealed after the game that some of his top performers, including Joao Pedro, Enzo Fernández and Moisés Caicedo, are playing through injury and unable to train regularly.
Maresca worried injury crisis is taking its toll on Chelsea players – Getty image
“I think Joao is not training every day because he’s managing a little bit himself from the injury problem,” Maresca said. “Moi [Caicedo] is exactly the same, Enzo [Fernandez] is exactly the same. We have four or five players that unfortunately cannot work every day, but they make the effort to play.”
Chelsea are already without Cole Palmer, Liam Delap, Levi Colwill and Benoît Badiashile, all sidelined through injury, leaving Maresca with limited options ahead of another packed week featuring a Carabao Cup tie against Wolves and a London derby against Tottenham.
“We were not good enough”
The Italian coach didn’t shy away from criticising his side’s performance, admitting that Chelsea failed to meet the required standard.
“I think in general we were not good enough,” Maresca said bluntly. “When you are not good enough in the Premier League, we know what the consequence can be.”
He lamented the defensive lapses that led to both goals, pointing to poor organisation and failure to deal with Sunderland’s physical presence.
“The second goal we conceded, it’s not even a transition. It was just one long ball behind. We were two versus one with the central defenders and still didn’t defend properly. The first goal came from a throw-in, again, difficult to deal with, but we must do better.”
