Just when Chelsea were seemingly building serious momentum, wait, what happened?
When the Blues took a fourth-minute lead through Alejandro Garnacho against Sunderland, they appeared set to cruise to a nice routine victory at 3 o’clock on a Saturday.
However, Wilson Isidor equalised for the Black Cats soon after and then, right at the death, with the home side pushing for a winner of their own, Chemsdine Talbi snatched victory, sparking wild celebrations from the Mackems who had traveled to West London.
Chelsea did end the afternoon with 16 shots to Sunderland’s ten, but forced Robin Roefs into just two saves, while Robert Sánchez made six, hence why the newly-promoted outfit ended the game with a higher xG figure: 0.97-1.16.
Before this, Enzo Maresca’s team had won four on the spin, demolishing Ajax 5-1 in the Champions League, while also beating both Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the Premier League.
Now, though, question marks will be raised against the manager, so, with a fierce London derby against Tottenham to come next Saturday, which player should Maresca cast aside following his display during this defeat?
João Pedro's start to life at Chelsea
Back in the summer, after arriving mid-way through the Club World Cup from Brighton, straight into action having been on a Brazilian beach, João Pedro was being heralded as a revelation.
He scored twice on debut against former side Fluminense in the semi-finals, before also netting during the final demolition over Paris Saint-Germain a few days later.
However, since serious football has returned, he’s not lived up to these admittedly astronomical high standards.
Pedro has scored only twice this season, on target against both West Ham and Fulham back in August, thereby enduring something of a goal drought, which is not ideal given that Liam Delap is sidelined long-term.
Also not helping Pedro’s cause is the fact that, on Wednesday night, he missed the annihilation of Ajax, suspended, having been sent off in stoppage time against Benfica, and the team put in a free-flowing, free-scoring display in his absence.
Per Sofascore, during Sunday’s defeat to Sunderland, in 85 minutes on the field, he touched the ball just 30 times, lost possession on nine occasions, was flagged offside twice, and mustered zero shots, replaced by Tyrique George towards the end, a change Chelsea supporters may have wished to see sooner.
However, his place in the starting lineup may actually not be under that much threat, given that his primary competition for minutes may have actually been even worse.
The Chelsea youngster who should be dropped
It may still only be October, but Marc Guiu has already endured a weird season.
The teenage Spaniard began the campaign on loan at Sunderland, making just three appearances for the club, scoring against Huddersfield in the Carabao Cup, before being abruptly recalled following the aforementioned injury sustained by Delap.
Upon his return to West London, he did not feature in any of their first six fixtures, making the recall seem a bit pointless, but he then changed the game off the bench against Nottingham Forest last weekend, providing a much-needed focal point.
Guiu was then rewarded with a start against Ajax in mid-week and repaid the manager’s faith, breaking the deadlock in that one, thereby starting against his, briefly, former club this weekend too, a first-ever Premier League start.
However, as the table below documents, safe to say he did not make Sunderland supporters rue what could have been.
Shots on target
1
8th
Shots off target
1
6th
xG
0.22
4th
Accurate passes
2
30th
Duels contested
3
23rd
Duels won
Zero
30th
Possession lost
6
17th
Touches
10
26th
SofaScore rating
6
30th
As the table documents, Guiu won zero duels, completed just two passes, and touched the ball only ten times, the same number as the man who replaced him in the 76th minute, namely Jamie Gittens.
Bobby Vincent of Football London awarded him a 4/10, noting that he ‘got very little change’ out of Dan Ballard, while Sam Tabuteau of the Evening Standard added that he ‘struggled to get into the game’ and lacked ‘finesse’, believing the game was a ‘reminder of his inexperience’, both of which are pretty polite ways of phrasing it, we would suggest.
Thus, the Barcelona wonderkid may not be the answer to Chelsea’s centre-forward conundrum after all.
With games against Spurs, Barcelona and Arsenal to come in November, Maresca will surely favour alternative options, especially for those tougher assignments.