Joe Cole hails Chelsea ‘monster’ with ‘nastiness’ after Rosenior’s side beat Wrexham in the FA Cup | OneFootball

Chelsea legend Joe Cole has praised Blues forward Joao Pedro after their 4-2 win over Championship side Wrexham in the FA Cup on Saturday.

The Welsh side put up a good fight, twice taking the lead through Sam Smith and Callum Doyle, an Arthur Okonko own-goal and a Josh Acheampong strike saw Chelsea level at the end of full-time.

After having George Dobson sent off in injury time at the end of the second half, Wrexham couldn’t hold out in extra time with Alejandro Garnacho and Joao Pedro scoring to put the visitors into the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.

Pedro climbed off the bench to score in one of the last kicks of the match and Cole singled him out for praise in the aftermath of their win in Wales.

On Pedro, who has now scored 11 goals in his last 12 matches for Chelsea ahead of their clash with Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Wednesday, Cole said on TNT Sports: “He’s a monster, he really is.

“I think he’s decided what he’s already doing [for his goal vs Wrexham], he’s playing with them, he takes the centre-half over to the left, drags him back, he actually strikes it into the floor, everything he’s hitting at the moment going in.

“He plays that No.9 role, he plays it not like an Erling Haaland where he’s constantly on the shoulder, he will drop in and drift in because he’s got quality.”

Former Premier League goalkeeper Ben Foster, who was a team-mate of Pedro’s at Watford, is really pleased to see the Chelsea star doing well.

Foster added: “I’ve got to say I’m so happy to see Joao doing really well.

“I was with Joao at Watford, you could see all the raw elements were there, he had that real bit of Brazilian flair about him and nastiness as well.

“But to see him now in the Premier League doing it week in, week out. He played on the left for us, on the right, up top, he could do all of those little positions and I think 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 was really surprised he didn’t start tonight, to be honest, because when somebody has just scored a hat-trick, confidence, especially strikers, they feed off this ego and when they score a hat-trick they just want to score more and more. To see him come on I thought, ‘oh no, here we go’.”