Joao Pedro battles for the ball. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)

'We have' – Enzo Maresca’s latest worrying admission shows he’s not learning from his mistakes

Originally posted on Chelsea News | By Charlie Patrick | Last updated Oct 26, 2025 9:00 AM ET

Enzo Maresca made a worrying admission after Chelsea’s defeat to Sunderland that three players are playing whilst carrying injury issues.

Chelsea slumped to a shock 2-1 defeat on Saturday at Stamford Bridge, a result which sees them drop to eighth in the league.

Alejandro Garnacho had given the Blues an early lead, before Wilson Isidor equalised and Chemsdine Tabli scored a 93rd minute winner.

Enzo Maresca makes worrying injury admission after Sunderland loss

It was a really disappointing performance, and the Blues struggled to create any meaningful chances once they’d gone a goal up.

Marc Guiu was particularly disappointing, with the Spaniard only having ten touches during the entirety of his time on the pitch.

Pedro once again struggled and wasn’t in the game at all, and after the game Maresca made a worrying injury admission.

“Joao is not training every day because he’s managing a little bit himself from the injury problem,” he told his post match press conference.

“Moi [Caicedo] is exactly the same, Enzo [Fernandez] 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.”

Chelsea boss needs to use his squad

If it’s the case that players are managing injury issues, then Maresca needs to let them recover and make use of the squad.

Summer signing Facundo Buonanotte is an option at number ten, but he didn’t even make the squad after starting against Ajax.

There are options in midfield as well with Romeo Lavia and Andrey Santos both on the bench, so Maresca doesn’t have to keep playing these players through the pain barrier.

It will be interesting to see what changes Maresca makes against Wolves with a huge game away at Tottenham next weekend.

This article first appeared on Chelsea News and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: