Chelsea came from behind to thump Aston Villa 4-1, with Joao Pedro (£7.6m) scoring a hat-trick in a crucial win.

Here are our Scout Notes from Villa Park.

• READ MORE: FPL Gameweek 29: Weds’ goals, assists, bonus + ‘DefCon’ points
• READ MORE: FPL notes: Saliba injury + Arsenal’s defence superb

PEDRO HAT-TRICK

Where else to start than the hat-trick scored by Joao Pedro?

His blistering form under Liam Rosenior has been keeping positional rival Liam Delap (£6.2m) out of the side, and that continued on Wednesday, with the Chelsea manager’s faith rewarded once again when Pedro knocked home a Malo Gusto (£4.9m) cross to restore parity in the 35th-minute.

The Brazilian was far from finished, escaping a VAR offside review to put the Blues 2-1 up late in first-half stoppage time, and before completing his hat-trick in the 64th-minute he set up Cole Palmer (£10.6m) for the team’s third.

Three goals and an assist, with the treble backed up by five shots (all in the box, four big chances) and an expected goals (xG) figure of 2.61. Combined with maximum bonus for a 19-point haul, that’s not bad for a day’s work.

“He’s a top player. I think he’s growing in confidence. His hold-up play, the energy he puts into the team in terms of his press, his movement. His goal with the left foot is world-class, the finish is magnificent, but actually I’m really delighted with his two tap-ins that he got. He was in the right place at the right time, we’ve worked hard with him on that.” – Liam Rosenior on Joao Pedro

At the time of writing, Pedro’s exploits have earned him over 174,000 transfers in ahead of Gameweek 30 (see image below), despite more than 617,000 managers deciding to sell him over the previous two Gameweeks!

Elsewhere, Alejandro Garnacho (£6.4m) was given a start over the suspended Pedro Neto (£7.0m) on the left wing and earned an assist (for Pedro’s third goal) with one of the match-high six chances he created, two of which were defined by Opta as ‘big chances’.

Enzo Fernandez (£6.7m), meanwhile, was back among the points on Wednesday. The Argentine did only register an assist, however, setting up Pedro’s second of the match, and he was booked just before the hour mark, meaning he finished on four points. More notably, that was Enzo’s eighth caution of the campaign.

JORGENSEN IN, SANCHEZ OUT

Perhaps the most eye-catching piece of team news from Villa Park was Rosenior’s decision to bench Robert Sanchez (£4.9m) and start Filip Jorgensen (£4.3m) in goal.

Here’s what Rosenior had to say on the matter when asked about his decision to start Jorgensen over Sanchez on Wednesday:

“The way I work with goalkeepers – I don’t have an outright number one. I want competition in every area, and Filip has been waiting very patiently for his chance and I’ve given it to him this evening. Filip has been very good in training.” – Liam Rosenior

“Rob is an outstanding goalkeeper and I just saw Filip in training and sometimes as a manager you have to go with your gut. Filip gave us something different and they will both be fighting it out for the rest of the season.” – Liam Rosenior

A solid performance for Jorgensen when given his chance, then. Could Sanchez’s position be at threat in the long term?

If Rosenior grants starting spots on merit, it wouldn’t be as big a surprise if we saw Jorgensen given the nod next time, too.

“It’s really hard to single someone out. I thought it was an outstanding team performance, starting with Filip, going through the back line, midfield, Moises, Enzo, Romeo when he comes on, and Garnacho we’ve spoken about. I just thought it was an outstanding team performance.” – Liam Rosenior

Coming off the bench in the 79th minute, Marc Cucurella (£6.0m) also marked his return from a hamstring injury.

CASH INJURY LATEST

You’d be forgiven for forgetting it by full-time, but Villa did in fact take a very early lead in this game when Douglas Luiz (£4.9m) buried a Leon Bailey (£5.5m) cutback.

Everything soon unravelled for the hosts, though, and things got worse just before half-time when Matty Cash (£4.8m) was forced off with a calf issue.

“We will check him tomorrow. We will do a scan. Hopefully not a lot [of time out]. He had some doubts about his calf.” – Unai Emery on Matty Cash

Reports on Thursday suggest Cash could even be back next week.

VILLA COLLAPSE

Ollie Watkins (£8.5m), meanwhile, had a goal very narrowly ruled out for offside but was otherwise wasteful, putting both of his ‘big chance’ attempts on target but ultimately missing. He also rounded Jorgensen with the scoreline at 3-1 before failing to get a shot away.

As for Morgan Rogers (£7.5m), he led the team in shots (three), though two were outside the box and only one was on target. It was he who tried to play in Watkins for the chance that was ruled out, too.

However, Villa’s fragilities were on show throughout, as they conceded 3.11 xG.

Villa’s early FA Cup exit means they have the weekend to lick their wounds before travelling to Lille for the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie next Thursday. 

They then face key Champions League rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday 15th March, i.e., Gameweek 30.

“We’re in a bad moment. We need to work to recover our structure tactically, offensively and defensively, trying to get comfortable with each one.” – Unai Emery