Joao Pedro's thoughts on a hard fought win and room for improvement

Chelsea striker Joao Pedro recognised the importance of yesterday’s 2-0 win at home to Brentford in which the Blues had to dig in for the win whilst exhibiting an impressive spirit and toughness against a good team.

Joao Pedro celebrates scoring Chelsea's opener against Brentford 

The game proved to be of few clear cut opportunities for the Blues, but it was a win that was hard fought and efficient, with the Blues scoring both goals with their only shots on target. The first coming from the Brazilian who clinically smashed home the opener, before Cole Palmer made sure of the points from the spot after the break. 

Realising how difficult the challenge was Joao Pedro was delighted to have contributed towards the win for the Blues their first since December especially against fellow West London outfit Brentford who have proved their quality with wins against Manchester City, Aston Villa and Manchester United this season. 

The 24 year old Brazilian believes that yesterdays victory will only breed more confidence with an important champions league clash to come next week. 

Upon reflection he said "It was a tough game against a tough team". It's been a while since our last win in the Premier League and even tough we didn't play well as we could, we won the game, secured a clean sheet and picked up three points which is the most important thing,

"We need to be ourselves and be aggressive like we did today when we play at home. I think that when you win, you are more confident because we feel like we are still in the title race and want to remain there and be as close to the top as possible."

"The win is good as as it shows that we are doing very well this season. They have dropped points against us and we are still in the race."

With his goal coming before the half our mark, the Brazilian felt it was the right time for the Blues to settle in their stride.

He continued by adding " we needed that goal and I want to score in as many games as possible". "It was great for me and the team but we can improve a lot more."

" Everyone knows that Brentford are a an aggressive team and so we made combinations to come at them and they pressed us high. I think we won some first and second balls, and that is the reason why we won the game today."

Joao Pedro made three recoveries during the game and explained that head coach Liam Rosenior had asked him to contribute to the defensive side of the game with the forward happily obliging.

" The gaffer asked me to do this, and so I tried my best he added. " It's hard to do, but I want to help the team by running back and forward. If the gaffer asks me to do something then I will do it and try my best."

" He has tried to explain and help us do what he wants. I think that we have all tried to help each other on the pitch by running for each other and stopping the other team from creating attacking opportunities which can lead to us conceding goals. It was a tough game, but it was important that we got the three points."