Enzo Maresca warns Chelsea star that he has not scored the ‘required number’ of goals
'He is doing well, but no doubt he can do better.'
Enzo Maresca has praised Pedro Neto but warned the Chelsea star that he is ‘required’ to find the back of the net 10 times in the Premier League.
Chelsea welcome Everton to Stamford Bridge on Saturday, needing a win to keep pace in the race for the top five and Champions League qualification.
As it stands, the Blues are sixth in the table, with just four points separating Manchester City in third and Aston Villa in seventh.
Maresca’s side looked set to drop vital points last weekend when they visited west London rivals Fulham but youngster Tyrique George’s late equaliser and Neto’s injury-time winner secured a 2-1 win.
Since his £51million transfer from Wolves last summer, the Portugal star has performed well but scored just four times in the Premier League, a number Maresca is not satisfied with.
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‘I think Pedro helps us a lot, especially when Nico [Jackson] was injured, when he played as a nine.
‘Now I think he’s scored already four goals in the Premier League. Our wingers, for me, they have to score, at the end of the season, around 10 goals. For the amount of chances they have, every game, one-to-one chances.
‘So Pedro is doing well, but no doubt he can do better. In terms of numbers, for instance, Noni [Madueke] scored seven goals in the Premier League. That is the number that we require from wingers.’
As mentioned, Madueke is the winger closest to reaching Maresca’s target, though the England international has only scored twice since Christmas.
Neto isn’t the only wide-man struggling to find the back of the net, with Jadon Sancho scoring just three times as Chelsea weigh-up whether to sign the Manchester United loanee permanently.
George’s goal against Fulham was the 19-year-old’s first in the top-flight while Mykhailo Mudryk – suspended after failing a drugs test in… hasn’t scored in the top-flight for nearly a year.
It remains to be seen whether Neto will have the chance to add to his goal tally from the start against Everton, though Maresca did admit he’s not being playing the 25-year-old in his best position.
‘We know that he’s much better in our right side than left. Sometimes we use him in the left because we have also known him and we decide to go with both. One of them has to be on the left side,’ the Italian head coach added.
‘And because Pedro, in the past, he played games on the left side, so we decided to keep him on the left and not on the right. Knowing that Pedro is better in the right side, I think he’s doing well with us.
‘It’s a little bit, game by game, week by week, how they work every day. And Pedro is working well. The good thing is that we have Pedro, Noni in general, also Ty, who can play wide. But we have these three players that it’s easy for me to choose which one, because they are working well.’
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