John Obi Mikel has heavily criticised Tosin Adarabioyo’s defending in Chelsea’s 2-1 defeat to Sunderland and questioned Enzo Maresca’s decision to bring off two of his ‘best players’ in Joao Pedro and Pedro Neto.

Chelsea got off to the perfect start as Alejandro Garnacho scored his first goal for the club to break the deadlock after only four minutes at Stamford Bridge.

But the visitors levelled through Wilson Isidor before stealing all three points at the death, with Chemsdine Talbi picking out the corner of Robert Sanchez’s net to send the away end into raptures.

It brought Chelsea’s run of four straight wins to an end and ensured the club dropped to ninth, eight points adrift of top-of-the-table Arsenal after nine games.

The Blues will be desperate to get back to winning ways when they return to action with a Carabao Cup fourth-round clash at Wolves on Wednesday night.

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A high-pressure London...