Joao Pedro has established himself as the Premier League's best striker on current form, with five goals and three assists in six top-flight games this season, outperforming Erling Haaland and proving Enzo Maresca's assessment wrong.
The Brazilian's numbers last season and his superb start to the new campaign provide comprehensive evidence that it was unwise of Maresca to insist the striker is "not a No9 that is going to score 20 goals each year".
The former Chelsea head coach, now at Manchester City, can call on Haaland, who has six goals in as many league games. However, Joao Pedro's greater involvement in build-up play and his tally of three league assists to Haaland's zero demonstrate he is the most productive striker in the division.
Clinical start to Chelsea career
Joao Pedro scored eight goals in seven games during pre-season and has backed that up when it matters, tallying more goal involvements than any Premier League player so far this term.
Saturday's 5-1 win over Bournemouth saw Jordan Henderson receive the bulk of the plaudits after scoring his first Premier League brace since 2014, yet Joao Pedro's clinical double slipped slightly under the radar.
The Brazilian has taken to life at Chelsea since his £60million move from Brighton last summer, and it was a measure of his elite mentality that he looked gutted to come off when substituted after 72 minutes.
Numbers behind the rise
His manager, Xabi Alonso, whispered an explanation in his ear, trying to keep his most ruthless finisher onside. Some data companies' models rate Joao Pedro as the best player in the league this season. He has scored with five of his 13 shots on target - the best conversion rate of any player with at least five attempts.
Despite Maresca's comments, Joao Pedro scored 20 goals and assisted a further eight across all competitions in his debut campaign for Chelsea.
He has already shown signs of refining his game this season, since taking the No9 shirt off Liam Delap following the end of the Englishman's failed experiment at Stamford Bridge.
No9 curse officially over
Joao Pedro's first goal against Bournemouth was a trademark first-time finish, an unerring right-footed effort arrowed high into the roof of the net from a cross that most forwards would need a first touch to control.
It was as confident and cold-blooded a strike as Haaland's opener on the turn in City's win at Anfield, and that is the company Joao Pedro keeps these days. It feels no risk to declare Chelsea's decades-old curse of the No9 shirt officially over.
After missing the 3-0 defeat at Brentford, Joao Pedro had the international break off and spent time seeing a specialist to try to speed up his recovery from a knee injury. His comeback against Bournemouth also brought the return of Chelsea's high-scoring attack after it had faltered without him.
Chelsea scored five goals from just 1.08 xG - incredibly clinical finishing led from the front by a man averaging more than a goal a game in the league this term, more than any other player who has struck more than three times.
His shock exclusion from Carlo Ancelotti's Brazil World Cup squad looks more and more baffling with every passing week. When Standard Sport sat down for an exclusive interview with Joao Pedro in September 2025, he spoke of his desire to "match" the achievements of Chelsea's best modern striker, Didier Drogba, and his dream of becoming "a legend" at Stamford Bridge. With a contract that maps out his Chelsea future to 2034, time is on Joao Pedro's side.
