Joe Cole has described Joao Pedro as a ‘monster’ for Chelsea after their 4-2 win against Wrexham within the FA Cup on Saturday.
Liam Rosenior’s side survived a scare against their Championship opponents as they needed beyond regular time to secure their place within the FA Cup quarter-final draw.
Wrexham took the lead twice in the sport before they were reduced to 10 men within the ninetieth minute. Chelsea capitalised in beyond regular time as Alejandro Garnacho and Pedro each found the online to seal their victory.
Pedro has now scored 11 goals in his last 12 games for Chelsea and is in sublime form ahead of Chelsea’s Champions League last-16 first leg against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday evening.
‘He’s a monster, he really is,’ Cole told TNT Sports.
‘I believe he’s decided what he’s already doing [for his goal vs Wrexham], he’s fidgeting with them, he takes the centre-half over to the left, drags him back, he actually strikes it into the ground, all the pieces he’s hitting in the intervening time moving into.
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‘He plays that No.9 role, he plays it not like an Erling Haaland where he’s continually on the shoulder, he’ll drop in and drift in because he’s got quality.’
Ben Foster, who was a pundit alongside Cole for the FA Cup tie, played with Pedro at Watford and believes the Brazilian’s versatility in attack is what makes him such a threat.
‘I’ve got to say I’m so glad to see Joao doing very well,’ Foster said.
‘I used to be with Joao at Watford, you might see all of the raw elements were there, he had that real little bit of Brazilian flair about him and nastiness as well.
‘But to see him now within the Premier League doing it week in, week out. He played on the left for us, on the suitable, up top, he could do all of those little positions and I believe that’s why he’s scoring so any goals and being so effective, he’s taking positions and defenders don’t know where he’s going to be.
‘I used to be really surprised he didn’t start tonight, to be honest, because when any person has just scored a hat-trick, confidence, especially strikers, they feed off this ego and after they rating a hat-trick they only need to rating an increasing number of. To see him come on I assumed, ‘oh no, here we go’.’
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