“I’m not sure” – Former Blue tells Enzo Maresca he’s playing one player in the wrong position | OneFootball

Former Chelsea player Tony Cascarino believes Enzo Maresca has been using Joao Pedro in the wrong position this season.

Pedro arrived from Brighton in the summer in a deal worth up to £60m, and hit the ground running at the Club World Cup.

The Brazil international scored twice in the semi final and also found the back of the net in the final as the Blues beat PSG 3-0 to get their hands on the trophy.

Enzo Maresca playing Joao Pedro in the wrong position

Pedro took that form into the start of the season with goals against Fulham and West Ham, but has gone through a difficult run of form since.

He scored against Tottenham and Wolves in back to back games last month, but has looked ineffective in recent weeks.

Pedro has struggled for form recently at Chelsea. (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)

Pedro scored his first Champions League goal against Atalanta on Tuesday evening, but Cascarino believes he’s being played in the wrong position.

“I do think they have players that can get goals,” he told The Game.

“But I’m not sure Joao Pedro is a centre forward.”

The former Brighton man has five goals and three assists in 19 games in all competitions this season, and Chelsea will be hoping his output improves during the busy festive period and second half of the campaign.

Liam Delap to miss busy festive period

Whether the 24-year-old is a centre forward or not remains a debate, but he’ll likely find himself playing there with Liam Delap facing another spell on the sidelines.

Delap only recently returned from a hamstring injury suffered against Fulham at the end of August, but picked up a shoulder injury in the draw with Bournemouth.

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It was expected he’d miss six to eight weeks, but Chelsea are said to be hopeful he could be back in four weeks.

In his absence Chelsea’s options at centre forward are Pedro and Marc Guiu, or Pedro Neto could be deployed down the middle.