Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca revealed that João Pedro, Enzo Fernández and Moisés Caicedo are all carrying injuries.
All three players started Saturday’s oddly listless 2–1 defeat at home to Sunderland. Fernández and Caicedo played the full 90 while Pedro lasted until the 85th minute yet none of this normally crucial trio performed to the best of their ability.
As Maresca would subsequently explain, they were restricted by fitness issues.
“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 were both fitness doubts heading into last weekend’s trip to Nottinhgam Forest. The Argentine midfielder didn’t feature at all while Caicedo was only fit enough to come off the bench. The all-action central outlet helped swing the contest in Chelsea’s favour at the City Ground but didn’t have the same decisive impact against Sunderland.
A lack of full fitness undoubtedly played its part, but Wilson Isidor’s diligent man-marking brief stifled Chelsea’s most important midfielder throughout a frustrating afternoon.
Pedro has been forced to take on the burden of starting for Chelsea despite his own issues given the lack of attacking options in west London. Following summer exits for Nicolas Jackson and Christopher Nkunku, the serious injury to Liam Delap briefly left Pedro as Maresca’s only senior centre forward. Marc Guiu was recalled from his loan spell with Sunderland before the summer window concluded but, as he proved against his fleeting former employers, is still very much 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.”
