Journalist reveals reason Enzo Maresca subbed Josh Acheampong against Sunderland | OneFootball

Chelsea defender Josh Acheampong is fine and the reason he was substituted against Sunderland was because of cramp according to journalist Bobby Vincent.

The Blues lost 2-1 to Sunderland on Saturday despite taking an early lead through Alejandro Garnacho, but they were unable to kill the game off.

The defeat leaves Chelsea ninth with five wins and four defeats from their opening nine Premier League games, which wasn’t the start they had in mind.

Why Josh Acheampong was substituted against Sunderland

Chelsea didn’t play well against the Black Cats, and were punished for two pieces of poor defending which lead to the goals.

One decision that baffled fans was the introduction of Tosin for Acheampong late in the second half, given the teenager was having a good game and had defended well.

Acheampong has impressed for Chelsea this season. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Subsequently Tosin defended terribly for the winning goal, and fans were left confused as to why Maresca had taken Acheampong off, but Vincent has now provided the answer.

He took to X.com and said:

“Josh Acheampong is fine.

“19yo was subbed off in the second-half on Saturday but Enzo Maresca confirmed this morning that was due to cramp. #CFC”

Acheampong has established himself as an important part of the team, and it now seems he’s a first choice at centre back, and the youngster reportedly attracted significant interest from Borussia Dortmund in the summer.

Chelsea centre back conundrum

With Levi Colwill out, Enzo Maresca has struggled to settle on a first choice defensive pairing, with the Italian often changing from game to game.

Tosin and Trevoh Chalobah have started a number of games, but the duo have both made several errors which have led to goals.

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Wesley Fofana is still working his way back to full fitness, and doesn’t appear to be trusted to play more than one game a week currently.

Having a settled pairing is really important, but it seems Maresca is going to continue to rotate his centre backs throughout the season.