Enzo Maresca has admitted that Chelsea star Joao Pedro is not the type of forward who is ever going to score 20 goals in a single season.
Pedro enjoyed a brilliant start at Chelsea after his summer arrival from Brighton, with two goals and two assists in his first four top-flight games.
But Pedro hasn’t scored since August with not a single goal contribution across his last five Premier League games for the west London club.
Chelsea head coach Maresca, though, has defended Pedro – insisting he shouldn’t be compared to the likes of Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe.
Enzo Maresca defends Joao Pedro
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Quizzed about Pedro’s goalscoring drought, Maresca said: ‘For sure, the physical part is important. When you are not 100 per cent [fit], it is difficult to compete in this league.
‘Joao is not a problem at all, he is going to score goals for us, give us assists. Joao Pedro is not a No.9 who is going to score 20 goals a season.
‘He is a fantastic player, but he is a different type of No.9 that score 20 or 25 goals each year, like Lewandowski, Mbappe and Haaland.’
Liam Delap set to return from injury
Much was said in the summer about the battle between Pedro and Liam Delap to be Chelsea’s main-choice striker this season – but the latter has been out of action since the end of August with a hamstring problem.
Delap, though, who joined Chelsea from Ipswich Town in June, is now set to make his return when the Blues face Wolves in the Carabao Cup.
Speaking ahead of the fourth-round clash at Molineux on Wednesday, Maresca revealed: ‘Liam is available for the game.
‘He completed the whole session with us yesterday with no problems and he is available for tomorrow.
‘We have to be careful with Liam and [it’s unlikely he will play] 90 minutes, no. He’s been out for two months, so he needs to be gradually brought back up to 100 per cent.’
Maresca is set to rotate his squad for the cup game against Wolves, adding: ‘Yes, we need to rotate.
‘We need to protect the players because if we go with the same XI, we are going to struggle during the season. We probably will make some changes against Wolves, I don’t know how many, but we will make changes.
‘I don’t know if it’s going to be nine or 10 like it was from Forest to Ajax, but for sure we need to make some to rotate and help protect the players.
‘There are players that they need to be protected for many reasons, so tomorrow we’ll see. Enzo, Moi, Joao – they are all players, for different reasons, we need to protect them.’