Joao Pedro thrilled by success of his connection with Palmer and Rogers

Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.

Joao Pedro is thrilled to have nurtured a strong relationship with Cole Palmer and Morgan Rogers and hopes to continue Chelsea’s high-scoring start to the season against Brentford.

Rogers joined in a big-money deal from Aston Villa in the transfer window, and the attacking trio have already created a great connection on the pitch.

Between then, they have scored 10 of Chelsea’s 18 goals in all competitions, also registering 10 assists, with Joao Pedro helping salvage a 2-2 draw with Hull City after they had thrown away the lead Rogers gave them.

The Blues are winless in their last two league games – also losing to Arsenal – after starting the campaign with two victories.

Their defence has come into question at times, having already conceded nine league goals, but Joao Pedro believes the strength of their forward players is key to getting results.

“Cole can score, he can pass, he can score from free-kicks, he can do everything,” said Joao Pedro.

“He’s a different player. That’s what makes him special. I just have to be ready when he gets the ball.

“Morgan is a very skilful player. We can see he can dribble past two, three guys, and carry the ball. That’s what we expect from him, and I think he has started very well.

“Everyone wants to score, and Xabi [Alonso] tells us always, it doesn’t matter what happens; you just need to be focused and be connected to the game, and you’re going to score.

“That’s why we score many goals this season from the beginning, because I think in the front three you can create a lot. And if you create a lot, you’re going to score a lot of goals as well.”

Friday night football in West London. pic.twitter.com/2l82R8tSF1

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) September 15, 2026

While Chelsea currently sit sixth on seven points with one loss to their name, Brentford are just one point and place behind them in the table after an unbeaten start.

They thrashed Tottenham 3-0 on the opening day but have since drawn with Leeds United, Sunderland and Bournemouth in the league.

Brentford go into Friday’s match on the back of a win, though, having beaten Reading 2-1 in the EFL Cup third round on Tuesday, with Fabio Carvalho scoring what turned out to be the winner on his return.

“It was amazing,” he said after that win. “It was just a blessing.

“It’s been a long, hard few months, but I was happy to be out there in front of our 5,000 fans, which was amazing. They kept pushing us.”

Only three players have applied more high-intensity pressures in their own half in the Premier League so far this season than Mamadou Sangare (127).

He is also joint-fourth for fouls conceded (eight) and joint-fifth for tackles made (13).

Joao Pedro has more goal involvements than any other player in the Premier League this season (six – three goals, three assists).

Since the start of last season, he has both scored and assisted in more different games than any other player in the competition (six), including in three of his four appearances this term.

Brentford are winless in all five of their Premier League home games against Chelsea, with each of the last four finishing level (L1).

Having lost three of their first five Premier League games against Brentford (W1 D1), Chelsea are now unbeaten in their last five against the Bees (W2 D3).

However, Chelsea have won just one of their previous six away league games (D1 L4), while so far in 2026 only Crystal Palace (23) have conceded more goals on the road among sides currently in the division than the Blues (21).

While they are scoring a lot, they have also looked extremely shaky in defence. Their league games this season have seen more goals than any other side (19 – 10 for, nine against); the Blues have both scored and conceded 10+ goals in their opening five games of a Premier League season just once before, doing so in 2019-20 (F11 A11).

Ten of Brentford’s last 14 Premier League games have been drawn (W2 L2), so they will be hoping to at least not leave empty-handed.

However, the Bees are unbeaten in their last six league games (W1 D5), only enjoying longer runs in the competition in March 2023 (12 games) and September 2023 (seven).

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