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The Chelsea forward will miss the World Cup, but the question remains whether he will be available for the club’s final Premier League fixture of the season.

Chelsea will wrap up their campaign aiming to secure a European competition spot as they travel to face Sunderland on Sunday afternoon.

The Premier League season will conclude with a full set of 4pm kick-offs, and Chelsea are among the few teams still competing for significant league positions.

If Chelsea manage to outperform Brighton’s result, new manager Xabi Alonso will guide them into the Europa League next season. Remaining in eighth place would also likely see them qualify for the Europa League, but a defeat could mean missing out entirely — potentially allowing Sunderland to leapfrog them.

This makes it crucial for manager Calum McFarlane to have his strongest possible lineup at the Stadium of Light, and Joao Pedro would be an important part of that setup.

The Brazilian forward has been troubled by injuries recently and missed Chelsea’s most recent Premier League encounter against Tottenham.

However, McFarlane revealed that Pedro’s omission from that match was partly due to the quick turnaround after he started in the FA Cup final just a few days earlier, having only recently returned from a prior injury.

Pedro started in the cup final at Wembley, playing 86 minutes during Chelsea’s defeat to Manchester City. He was then left out of the win over Spurs as a precaution due to a minor issue.

Speaking midweek, McFarlane provided an update: “Joao Pedro had a slight knock. It’s nothing that we’re overly worried about, but with the short recovery time after facing City, it just wasn’t worth risking him at that point.”

Pedro is expected to be back in contention to feature against Sunderland, along with Levi Colwill and Reece James, who also played in the FA Cup final but sat out the Tottenham game.

McFarlane noted that the trio will be monitored during training sessions to determine their availability for Sunday’s fixture.

He added: “It’s definitely a wait-and-see situation. We have a bit of time before the match, so we’re hopeful, but we’ll only know for sure after observing how things progress over the next couple of days.”