Joao Pedro has been in scintillating form for the Blues since Rosenior’s arrival at Stamford Bridge as head coach in January, finding the back of the net 10 times in 14 appearances.

Our No.20's hat-trick in the 4-1 win over Aston Villa on Wednesday evening – the 24-year-old’s first for Chelsea and first in the Premier League full stop – took his tally to 20 goals for the Blues already, when you include the summer's FIFA Club World Cup.

Ahead of this afternoon's FA Cup fifth-round tie away at Wrexham, it was put to Rosenior that, when you exclude penalties, only Erling Haaland has more than Joao Pedro's 14 goals in this season's Premier League, while that margin is closing thanks to our striker's eight goals in our last eight games in the competition.

The Chelsea head coach agreed with the sentiment that the Brazilian is showing he deserves to be talked about in the same sentence as the likes of Haaland, Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe.

‘I think Joao’s in that category now,’ said Rosenior. ‘Consistently, during the two months that I’ve been here, he’s shown that level. He’s a world-class striker.

‘I only talk about my players, it’s disrespectful to Erling to compare them. I don’t know Erling really well, what I do know is that from the outside he’s a magnificent world-class striker.

‘But I wouldn’t swap Joao for anyone in this moment to be honest, because he’s showing all of the things and all the attributes I want to see in my No.9.’

Ominously for Blues’ opponents, Rosenior doesn’t even believe Joao Pedro has reached his highest level yet. Instead, he sees plenty of room for the 24-year-old to continue his development and become an even bigger threat in the future.

‘For Joao the great thing is his age; he can still improve,’ continued our head coach.

‘I know there are a lot of things he can improve on, which is really good, but the level that he’s operating on is at a world-class level. It’s my job and the club’s job and his job to keep him going like that.’

It remains to be seen if Joao Pedro will lead the line again at Wrexham later today, with Rosenior repeatedly stressing he is keen to give our other strikers like Liam Delap and Marc Guiu their own chances to impress, with the former registering three assists when we defeated Hull City 4-0 in the last round of this competition.

But whichever names make the Chelsea team sheet at the Racecourse Ground, the focus for Rosenior and his players will remain the same. Namely bringing more silverware to west London, in a competition we last won in 2018.

‘This is a club built on winning, this is a club that expects to win trophies. [Against Wrexham] we need to make sure that we’re playing in the manner of a club that’s expected to win trophies.

‘That’s all I can focus on. How long it’s been since the club has won the trophy isn’t in my thinking. All that’s in my thinking is to win the next game, to get us a step closer to winning trophies.’