<figure id="attachment_3296876" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3296876" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-3296876" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/82bd165e-liam-rosenior.jpg" alt="Liam Rosenior" width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3296876" class="wp-caption-text">Chelsea&#8217;s head coach Liam Rosenior applauds striker Joao Pedro as he comes off in the win over Aston Villa at Villa Park. (AFP pic) </figcaption></figure>
BIRMINGHAM: Liam Rosenior labelled Joao Pedro &#8220;world class&#8221; after the Brazilian striker&#8217;s hattrick inspired a 4-1 rout of Aston Villa on Wednesday.
Joao Pedro&#8217;s first Premier League treble lifted Chelsea into fifth place, just three points behind fourth-placed Villa in the race to qualify for next season&#8217;s Champions League.
Cole Palmer also scored on a memorable night for the Blues, who came from behind after Douglas Luiz&#8217;s opener to end their three-match winless run in the league.
But it was Joao Pedro, with 14 league goals to his credit this season, who earned the acclaim from Rosenior.
&#8220;He&#8217;s a top player. I think he&#8217;s growing in confidence. His goal with the left foot is world class. The finish is magnificent,&#8221; he said.
&#8220;But actually, I&#8217;m really delighted with his two tap-ins that he got. He was in the right place at the right time.
&#8220;We worked hard with him on that, but he gets the hattrick. It&#8217;s really hard to single someone out, but I thought it was an outstanding team performance.&#8221;
It was by far the best display of Rosenior&#8217;s two months in charge and, with Manchester United and Liverpool losing during the midweek fixtures, Chelsea have strengthened their push to reach the Champions League.
&#8220;It&#8217;s only significant if we back it up. We have to be consistent,&#8221; Rosenior said.
&#8220;We have massive FA Cup game, then we&#8217;ve got huge game in Paris (in the Champions League), and then we&#8217;ve got another huge game against Newcastle.
&#8220;We just need to back it up and not look at the significance of the games. We just need to perform. And if we perform at that level, we&#8217;re going to be in a good place.&#8221;
When Luiz struck inside three minutes, Villa had high hopes of taking a huge step towards bolstering their own Champions League ambitions but their night turned sour.
Unai Emery&#8217;s men have now won just one of their last six league games.
&#8220;We are in a bad moment. Why? Maybe we have lost our structure,&#8221; Emery said.
&#8220;Our structure was so, so strong when we were being consistent in different competitions. The objective we have in front, we still have time to recover.
&#8220;We are accepting the bad moment we are in, we must try to find solutions, this is my concern.
&#8220;Now is the moment we have to be together and work harder than we did.&#8221;

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