Chelsea crumble to Sunderland defeat as Maresca admits stars' injury struggles

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Just three minutes after Bruno Guimaraes put Newcastle 2-1 up in the 90th minute, Chemsdine Talbi put Sunderland 2-1 up at the Bridge. This was a pointed reminder that the three days between a European tie and a domestic one are where titles are lost and the right to play in Europe’s top tier slips away agonizingly slowly. Many Chelsea fans may have seen this before, but their young manager and most of his side are feeling its ruthlessness for the first time. This was the second time Chelsea returned after a Champions League tie to taste defeat. 8 points from winning positions have been tanked with three-quarters of the league season left to play.

That Brian Brobbey had a full four seconds to hold the ball up inside the Chelsea box, the time to turn and lay it off for the Moroccan substitute summed up an alarmingly weary performance. On more than four occasions, simple passes trickled too close to the opposition and sparked panic. When even Moises Caicedo starts to look human, what chance do the rest have?

Maresca started with the right intentions. Watching Joao Pedro haplessly flounder as a 9 against stern defences, he must have sensed Sunderland would try to start a game with a back 5 for the first time. Marc Guiu was asked to take up that thankless task and the Brazilian forward moved into his favoured #10 role. What followed was another listless display, loose touches, a desperate dive for a soft penalty, reluctance to track back after surrendering the ball - all signs that the fault with the man and not the system.

However, the decision to take off Garnacho was a puzzling one, considering the Argentinian winger had scored the opener and taken four of Chelsea’s nine shots, notching two on target. Garnacho himself seemed less than thrilled to go off. Joao Pedro seemed a far easier option to bench, managing zero shots for the 5th time in his last seven games.

At the back, Josh Acheampong was having one of his best displays in a Chelsea shirt and was hooked off after 75 minutes. Whether this was to manage fatigue or to bring on Tosin’s aerial prowess against a robust set-piece unit is unclear, but it did have a knock on effect in heaping more misery onto a CB partnership that has just failed to click this season.

Maresca did make a worrying admission post the defeat that did explain the seemingly inexplicable. “I think Joao is not training every day because he is managing an injury problem,” he said. “Moi is the same, Enzo is the same. We have four or five players that have some problems and cannot work every day. They try to make the effort and play the game. Joao struggled a little bit today but all of the players did today, so it's not just Joao.”

Take no credit away from Sunderland. Facing their first top 6 side this season, Regis Le Bris would have been tempted after the equalizer to retreat into the back 5 that had proven so hard to crack. He made three subs, two of them forwards and reinforced the running power up front. Nordi Mukiele, perhaps the PL’s best long throw specialist, launched a rocket into the box to force the scramble that got Isidor the goal, they pushed hard against listless opposition to earn, not steal, the three points.

It doesn’t get any easier from here. Tottenham, Barcelona and Arsenal await next month, and the massive worry is that a lot of what needs to be fixed isn’t in Maresca’s control. Liam Delap starting training and Palmer’s return on the horizon will help, but multiple senior players struggling with form, fitness & injury after a gruelling summer with negligible rest will stretch this squad’s qualities and depth to its limits.