Marc Cucurella has urged Chelsea to show more killer instinct after their inability to close out Sunderland resulted in a damaging 2-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

Enzo Maresca’s side have already dropped eight points from winning positions this season, and the latest setback saw Chemsdine Talbi snatch a stoppage-time winner for the Black Cats.

Chelsea had taken an early lead through Alejandro Garnacho’s fourth-minute strike—his first goal since joining from Manchester United—but Sunderland equalised in the 22nd minute via Wilson Isidor. Despite dominating possession for long stretches, the Blues were unable to regain the lead, adding another entry to a growing list of toothless displays.

The defeat leaves Chelsea struggling in mid-table after their four-game winning run across all competitions came to an end. The west London club had hoped to build on the momentum of Champions League qualification, last season’s UEFA Conference League triumph, and their Club World Cup success.

Cucurella admitted that improvements are needed, particularly in developing a more ruthless edge.

“It’s a really tough one to take,” Cucurella told Chelsea’s website. “We need to improve in these matches. We have to learn to manage games better. We scored early, dominated initially, but then allowed the opponents back into it. We need to learn to kill games off when we’re in control.

“We need to be better against teams that come with a compact, disciplined game-plan, like Sunderland.”

Chelsea were undone for the second time this season by a long throw-in, as Nordi Mukiele’s delivery into the six-yard box caused confusion and allowed Isidor to poke home the equaliser.

“We know many teams are trying to exploit long throws, and we need to manage them more effectively,” Cucurella added. “We trained for this yesterday because we knew Sunderland would use long throws and be direct from set-pieces.

“Perhaps we relaxed a little, and they punished us. It’s no excuse—we need to learn from this and ensure it doesn’t happen again.”