By Paul Green at Villa park
LIAM Rosenior saluted hat-trick hero Joao Pedro after Chelsea’s stunning 4-1 win against Aston Villa at Vila Park on Wednesday night.
The Blues made the worst possible start when they fell behind to Douglas Luiz’s second-minute opener and the visitors were soon fuming as Reece James was denied a penalty after a tackle by Ian Maatsen.
Joao Pedro equalised on 35 minutes with a close-range finish after being teed up by Malo Gusto.
VAR then prevented Ollie Watkins from restoring Villa’s advantage with a tight offside call before Joao Pedro made it 2-1 on the stroke of half-time.
Cole Palmer struck from just inside the area ten minutes after the break before the impressive Alejandro Garnacho selflessly set up Joao Pedro to complete his treble nine minutes later.
“He is a top player,” a delighted Rosenior said afterwards.
“I think he has grown in confidence. His hold-up play, the energy he puts into the team in terms of his press, his movement, his goal with the left foot is world class.
“The finish [for 2-1] was magnificent, but actually I’m really, really delighted with his two tap-ins that he got. He was in the right place at the right time, we worked hard with him on that. He gets the hat-trick.
“It is really hard to single someone out because I thought it was an outstanding team performance.”
The Stamford Bridge boss did though go on to pick out Garnacho for his contribution in what was an eye-catching display on his return to the starting XI.
Rosenior said: “When you are a professional you do everything right on the training pitch. He has really impressed me the last few weeks.
“But he has impressed me the most when he has been out of the team because his reaction to being out of the team, his professionalism, how and with the intensity he has trained at, it is no coincidence he has gone and performed like that today.
“That’s the most pleasing thing for me was that he deserved that today. He should have then got a goal but he was in the right position.
“I loved how unselfish he was to set up the goal for Joao.”
Victory moved Chelsea to within three points of Villa and was their first Premier League maximum in four games.
What particularly pleased the manager was how they reacted to Douglas Luiz’s opener, as well as when not getting the decision when skipper James’ spot-kick appeal fell on deaf ears.
Rosenior said: “I was very proud of them today. We’ve had a few kicks.
“We spoke about responding positively before the game. We had to within the game because with Aston Villa’s first attack they score from a fantastic finish.
“Then I don’t understand how we don’t get a penalty. Then fact we won 4-1 still doesn’t change that – it was a clear penalty on Reece.
“It is another setback, so then for the players to then perform in the manner that they did with or without ball makes me a very proud manager this evening.”
