Chelsea injury news: Levi Colwill, Joao Pedro updates provided ahead of pivotal Sunderland game

Interim Chelsea head coach Calum McFarlane has suggested that Levi Colwill and Joao Pedro could be available for Sunday's Premier League fixture against Sunderland.

The Blues went into Tuesday's encounter versus Tottenham Hotspur knowing that concluding the season with back-to-back victories would secure European qualification for 2026-27.

In a tense game, goals from Enzo Fernandez and Andrey Santos secured a 2-1 win over their London rivals at Stamford Bridge.

Sitting in eighth position in the Premier League table, Chelsea know that beating Sunderland at the Stadium of Light would secure a place in the Europa League or Conference League for next season.

However, with Levi Colwill and Joao Pedro both missing the clash with Spurs, Chelsea could be far from full-strength for the trip to the North-East.

McFarlane provides Colwill, Pedro updates

Speaking at his post-match press conference, McFarlane suggested that he and the club were eager to err on the side of caution with the fitness of Colwill and Pedro.

Colwill has completed games against Liverpool and Manchester City since returning from a serious knee injury, the turnaround to Spurs being deemed too quick, while Pedro sustained an issue towards the end of Saturday's FA Cup final.

McFarlane told reporters: "So 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. So that one pretty much speaks for itself. So 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 [James] is the same. We had Reece on the bench tonight, but again, coming off the back of an injury, 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.

"Joao Pedro had a slight knock, nothing that we're massively concerned about. But again, with the quick turnaround from City, it just wasn't worth risking Joao Pedro in that moment."

On whether they could feature on Sunday, McFarlane added: "It's definitely a wait and see. We've got 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, see how the next couple of days unfold."

Would trio be recalled?

With Malo Gusto also missing, McFarlane handed starts to Josh Acheampong, Andrey Santos, Pedro Neto and Liam Delap in what was a change of system.

Of the quartet, Gusto and Colwill appear likely to be viewed as like-for-like changes for Acheampong and Jorrel Hato, while Pedro could return in place of Delap.

Nevertheless, McFarlane may feel that he seen enough in their replacements to tempt him into keeping changes to a minimum.

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