Chelsea hopeful Joao Pedro will be fit for final game

Calum McFarlane says Chelsea will adopt a “wait and see” approach regarding the fitness of Joao Pedro ahead of their final-day trip to Sunderland, but are “hopeful” he will be involved along with Reece James and Levi Colwill

Forward Joao Pedro was a notable absentee from the squad for Tuesday’s 2-1 London derby victory against Tottenhamhaving picked up a minor knock.

Club captain James was named on the bench, while defender Colwill was left out entirely as the club look to carefully manage his return after a long-term knee injury.

“Joao Pedro had a slight knock,” interim boss McFarlane said.

“It is nothing that we are massively concerned about, but again, with the quick turnaround from the Manchester City game, it just wasn’t worth risking him in that moment.

“Levi has obviously come off the back of a very serious injury, so it was probably too quick of a turnaround from the cup final.

“We didn’t want to risk him. We couldn’t afford to risk him tonight, but that would be expected. That would have been the plan from the beginning.

“Reece is the same. We had Reece on the bench tonight, but again, coming off the back of an injury and the turnaround from the City game—the type of game that the City game was—we didn’t really want to risk him in that moment.”

Chelsea travel to face Sunderland knowing a victory would secure European football – possibly in the Europea League – but it is not yet known whether the trio will feature.

“It is definitely a wait and see,” McFarlane said.

“We have a little bit of time from now until then, so we’re hopeful. But we won’t know that until the next couple of days unfold.”