Enzo Maresca has acknowledged that João Pedro, Enzo Fernández and Moisés Caicedo are all carrying injuries that have limited their training time and availability.

“I think João is not training every day because he’s managing a little bit himself from the injury problem,” the Italian boss outlined. “Moi [Caicedo] is exactly the same, Enzo [Fernández] is exactly the same.

“We have four or five players that unfortunately, because of some problems, they cannot work every day and they try to make the effort to play the game.”

Caicedo and Fernández arrived at the Nottingham Forest game as fitness doubts. Fernández did not feature, while Caicedo was only fit enough to come off the bench and, the club report says, helped swing the contest at the City Ground. He was unable to produce the same decisive impact in the subsequent match with Sunderland. Wilson Isidor’s diligent man-marking brief stifled Chelsea’s most important midfielder throughout a frustrating afternoon.

João Pedro has been asked to shoulder a regular starting burden despite his own fitness issues because of limited attacking options. Summer exits for Nicolas Jackson and Christopher Nkunku, combined with a serious injury to Liam Delap, briefly left Pedro as the only senior centre forward. Marc Guiu was recalled from his loan with Sunderland before the summer window closed, but as the match against his fleeting former employers showed, he remains a raw 19-year-old.

“So João in some games has been better, [against Sunderland] he struggled a little bit,” Maresca conceded. “But I think overall all the players struggled, so it’s not just about João.”

Delap, sidelined with a hamstring injury sustained when sprinting too vigorously in the opening exchanges of an August clash with Fulham, watched the Sunderland game from the stands. Maresca has suggested the 22-year-old could get some minutes in Wednesday’s Carabao Cup tie against Wolverhampton Wanderers, which would help ease Pedro’s workload.

Chelsea then face a London derby away to Tottenham Hotspur, a team noted in the report for a potent set-piece threat and a surprisingly mixed home record this season, with Burnley the only Premier League side to have lost in N17 so far.

Enzo Maresca devoted his postgame assessment to a single, recurring theme: inconsistency. Chelsea arrived on the back of a midweek, record-shattering 5–1 Champions League win over Ajax, a result that extended a run to four successive victories. That momentum did not survive the weekend as Sunderland first equalised from a long throw through Wilson Isidor and then snatched victory in the 93rd minute when Chemsdine Talbi struck his first goal for the club.

Maresca singled out the team’s attacking shortcomings. He said “a lack of creativity.” He expanded on the broader issue after the match. “If you want to be there, you need consistency,” Maresca sighed postgame. “Winning four in a row and then today’s [result], it shows that.” He described the gap between peaks and troughs visually and bluntly: “If we can have that level [Maresca lifted his hand towards the ceiling] and this level [dropped the same palm towards the floor], probably it’s better to have something in between, to be always in the same way.”

The squad’s age profile and recruitment approach were offered as context for those fluctuations. Midweek accolades were tied to age-related records, and the article notes that a very youthful core can be prone to variable performances.

The decisive goal itself involved two of Chelsea’s more senior outfield figures. Trevoh Chalobah, 26, chased Brian Brobbey back into Chelsea’s half late on and was joined by 28-year-old Tosin Adarabioyo, the oldest player in Maresca’s squad. While Tosin jockeyed Brobbey, Chalobah held his position, allowing Brobbey time to lay the ball off for Talbi, who had the space to place the finish into the bottom corner. Maresca was frank about the defensive lapse. “That can be an easy situation,” Maresca moaned. “We were two vs. one, the striker is facing his own goal. It’s an easy situation to defend. In that case we have to do better.”

Chelsea’s four-match winning run ended in painful fashion at Stamford Bridge as Sunderland snatched a 2-1 victory with a stoppage-time winner. Chemsdine Talbi stroked home in the 93rd minute after Brian Brobbey held the ball up and teed up the Moroccan on the edge of the area, leaving Robert Sánchez beaten.

Alejandro Garnacho had put Chelsea ahead inside four minutes, squeezing a finish past Sunderland goalkeeper Robin Roefs after a swift counter. The lead lasted only until the first half when Wilson Isidor converted amid chaos from a long throw and a deflected effort by Bertrand Traoré. That equaliser altered the tone of the match and set up a frantic finale.

The result leaves Chelsea down in seventh, while Sunderland leapfrogged to second in the table. Chelsea dominated possession and passing statistics but could not convert control into a decisive second goal. The match statistics show Chelsea with 71% possession to Sunderland’s 29%, expected goals of 0.55 to 0.92, and four shots on target to Sunderland’s three.

Individual performances were mixed. Robert Sánchez was judged 6.1, described as uncertain with the ball at his feet but relatively assured with his hands. Reece James produced the most creativity on the right and earned 7.5. Trevoh Chalobah struggled at times and was rated 6.6, while Josh Acheampong received 7.1 for several vital interventions. Marc Cucurella (6.7) pushed high from left-back. In midfield Enzo Fernández was 7.1 and Moisés Caicedo 6.6. Pedro Neto (7.4) and Alejandro Garnacho (7.2) provided the primary attacking impetus, João Pedro was 6.2 and Marc Guiu was 5.9.

Estêvão (58’) was 6.2, Jamie Gittens (76’) 6.2 and Tosin Adarabioyo (76’) 6.4. Andrey Santos and Tyrique George were introduced later, with no rating given. Subs not used included Filip Jörgensen, Jorrel Hato, Wesley Fofana and Roméo Lavia.

Chelsea created big chances and controlled the ball, but Sunderland’s resilience and a late counter finished the day for the Blues.