Joao Pedro has been in good scoring form of late, and while he didn’t manage to bag one on Tuesday night against Arsenal, he did still impressive with his back to goal play.
He was very isolated up top in a defensive Chelsea setup, but still made long balls stick and helped his team up the field. Even against a very physical Arsenal team, the Brazilian impressed everyone with his battling qualities.
Time and again he would drop deep to compete for a long ball, drawing in William Saliba or Gabriel as they tried to win the duel.
You can see the highlights from the game in the clip embedded here:
João Pedro gives Chelsea a physical/technical base to play thru the middle of the pitch & hold the ball back to goal. Impressive to do this vs Saliba & Gabriel. But they need to improve the attacking quality & dynamics to penetrate after his hold-up play. pic.twitter.com/oAIPokbheF
— Premier League Panel (@PremLeaguePanel) February 4, 2026
[Footage from Sky Sports]
JP does his bit – now the rest of the team must help him out
Joao Pedro takes on Arsenal's defence.
Joao Pedro takes on Arsenal’s defence. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)
First things first, it’s just really nice to see JP doing this sort of thing. We’ve always known he’s capable, but poor form, some niggling injuries and perhaps some of the formations and tactics we’ve used have meant he’s had so many anonymous games for us so far.
This is a reminder that, even up against the Premier League’s biggest and toughest defenders, he’s able to really compete and get stuck in. What we needed was more runners around him, bursting into the space he was making by dragging defenders around.
That’s the next challenge for Liam Rosenior, who will soon finally get some time on the training pitch.
In other news…
There remain big questions about the team that Chelsea have built. After record spending, they’ve still not really got a strong second XI ready to fill in.
Liam Rosenior has been nominated for the manager of the month award after picking up 3 wins from 3 in his first month as Chelsea boss. Not bad going, eh?
More Stories about Joao Pedro
liam rosenior enzo maresca
Joao Pedro celebrates with Chelsea players.