Horrible stats show how much Chelsea player has struggled compared to Nicolas Jackson | OneFootball

Liam Delap’s shoulder injury picked up on Saturday against Bournemouth rules him out for a month at least, but it’s not just bad news for the former Ipswich man.

It also puts pressure on his alternate up top, Joao Pedro. The Brazilian is really struggling now after a bright start to life at Chelsea, and there are worries about his stats showing just how bad things have got.

Joao Pedro’s form in freefall and the numbers show it

Joao Pedro in Chelsea training.

The Evening Standard’s Dom Smith has a rundown of the numbers which makes painful reading.

“Across the season, [Joao Pedro] has averaged just 1.75 shots a game: among the lowest for strikers starting regularly across the Premier League this season. Last term, Nicolas Jackson was averaging 3.08, by way of comparison.”

He didn’t manage a single shot at all against Bournemouth at the weekend, despite getting half an hour on the pitch as an attacker as his team searched for a winning goal. In all, he has two goals since the end of August, and one assist in that time.

Back in the Autumn when the Brazilian was struggling, we heard that it was because he was really a number 10 who needed a number 9 to play off. Well, even with Delap there, he didn’t look much better. We need a solution which helps us through this month to come, but also one to get the best out of JP and Delap in the long run.

In other news…

Chelsea’s game tonight is away in Italy, but Enzo Maresca isn’t letting playing 3 in a row away from home be an excuse for his side.

With several players out, Enzo Maresca was asked whether he would consider bringing Raheem Sterling back into the fold. You can probably imagine his response to that already…