‘Hungry’ Joao Pedro backed to keep shining for Chelsea

Chelsea boss Xabi Alonso says Joao Pedro has the hunger to have another great season at club level but needs more support from his team-mates.

Joao was Chelsea’s standout player in his debut campaign for the Blues, scoring 20 goals across all competitions and winning the player of the year award, but was surprisingly left out of the Brazil squad for the World Cup.

The frustration at being overlooked by Brazil’s former Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti may count in his club’s favour – if the fully-rested forward’s performance and nine-minute hat-trick in the pre-season win over Western Sydney Wanderers are anything to go by.

But with only Enzo Fernandez (15) and Cole Palmer (11) also reaching double figures last term, Alonso has challenged the new-look Chelsea to ease the goalscoring burden on Joao.

“He wants, after a great last year where he scored many goals, to keep scoring more and more,” Alonso said.

“But we need to help him, as on his own it’s not possible.

“He will have the players around him and they need to have this hunger to score as well. It’s not just about the striker, but every time that we win and our striker scores, I am happy.

“He’s very hungry – Joao is really, really determined to have a great season.”

Meanwhile, winger Jamie Gittens says he is injury-free and in a great place to show what he can do after a contrasting first season to Joao last time out.

The 21-year-old made just five league starts, with only 12 starts in total, and only scored one goal from a total of 27 appearances.

But he looked sharp, confident and full of running in an impressive goalscoring cameo from the bench.

“I’m feeling better now,” Gittens said. “My injuries are healing up now, so I feel really good. I feel in a good space with the team and in my body as well.”