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It was clear that Joao Pedro was going to be named in the Premier League Team of the Month for his performances throughout February for Chelsea.
Pedro has hit new heights at Stamford Bridge under Liam Rosenior, further proving his class with a hat-trick against Aston Villa this week.
He picked up praise from Cole Palmer, who also found the net at a crucial time at Villa Park to put an end to any discourse surrounding him this season.
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He’s overtaken the Chelsea icon’s first-season numbers.
Joao Pedro and Cole Palmer named in Premier League Team of the Month
An injury-hit campaign has started to come to an end though, and across February he scored five goals and assisted another.
It is perhaps no surprise then that WhoScored named Palmer in their statistical Team of the Month in midfield, with Pedro up front.
Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images
Only Arsenal centre-back Gabriel picked up a higher average rating than Pedro, and his hat-trick against Villa will already put him in contention for a similar accolade in March.
The partnership between the two of them has proven to be a real strength for Chelsea, with Pedro locking down the striker position ahead of Liam Delap.
Getting Palmer back to his best has been the main task for Liam Rosenior since he took over the club, although he may have stumbled across the answer that was staring him in the face the whole time.
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Chelsea paid £60m last summer.
Rosenior getting the best out of Palmer using old Maresca trick
After a few games of starting Palmer in the number 10 role, Rosenior elected to start the Englishman off the right wing against Villa, allowing Enzo Fernandez to return to a central role.
Palmer was key to a lot of the nice interplay with Pedro, Reece James and Malo Gusto, and it is a position he has starred in when Enzo Maresca was in charge.
He started in this position against PSG in the Club World Cup final, arguably his best performance of 2025, and looked to be the blueprint for the former manager in big games.
With the Champions League Round of 16 tie against the same opponents to come, the boss should look to stick to this gameplan for both legs, even potentially picking the exact same XI who started at Villa Park.
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