Welcome to The Radar, a Your Site column in which uses a blend of data and opinion to shed light on need-to-know stories from up and down the Premier League. This week:
9️⃣ Joao Pedro excelling as Chelsea's striker
🧱 Maguire crucial for Carrick at Man Utd
🔍 Two players to watch this weekend
Few forwards have caused more problems for William Saliba and Gabriel this season than Joao Pedro on his last visit to the Emirates Stadium. The Carabao Cup tie ended in defeat for Chelsea but Joao Pedro returns on Sunday aiming for a repeat performance.
The 24-year-old spent that evening dragging the Arsenal centre-backs out of position and showing impressive strength to hold them off with his back to goal. He linked the play, ran the channels, won twice as many fouls as anyone else and gave Chelsea an outlet.
All that was missing was a goal but those have hardly been in short supply lately. Joao Pedro has seven in his last nine appearances for Chelsea. Arsenal's Viktor Gyokeres is the only Premier League player to have scored more since the turn of the year.
The increase in his scoring output, from eight goals in 30 appearances earlier this season to seven in his last nine, coincides with the appointment of Liam Rosenior, who said last week that Joao Pedro can become one of the best strikers in the world.
Fanciful, some may say, but there is no doubting the strides he has taken. Joao Pedro's goal against Burnley was his 11th in the Premier League this term. He has reached that total despite losing the penalty-taking privileges he enjoyed at former club Brighton.
It represents a huge increase in his output. Joao Pedro has scored more than twice as many non-penalty goals as in any of his previous top-flight campaigns. Erling Haaland and Antoine Semenyo are the only players with more in the Premier League this season.
Having split his time between the No 10 and No 9 positions for Brighton, and indeed for Chelsea under Enzo Maresca following his £60m arrival in July, Joao Pedro has been used almost exclusively up front by Rosenior, despite the availability of Liam Delap.
Chelsea's last meeting with Arsenal showcased his ability with his back to goal, but overall, Joao Pedro is less involved in general play, averaging fewer touches and fewer passes under Rosenior as the new head coach tries to maximise his threat in the box.
Joao Pedro has clearly relished a narrower focus. It has allowed him to have roughly twice as many shots. And while he remains capable of spectacular strikes, like his first goal in the Champions League win over Napoli, he has mostly hunted down easier chances.
His goal against Burnley, forced over the line from Pedro Neto's cross, was his second from inside the six-yard box under Rosenior and put him on five for the season, the joint-highest total by any player along with Leeds striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
Helped, of course, by the better service on offer at Chelsea compared to Brighton, Joao Pedro's shot quality is transformed. Excluding penalties, he has gone from averaging 0.12 expected goals per shot at Brighton last term to 0.21 per shot at Chelsea.
Rosenior has challenged Joao Pedro to raise the intensity of his play and he has stepped up on that front too, both in terms of his pressing and his attacking movement. He has increased both the volume and effectiveness of his runs in behind.
For Chelsea, the hope is that they might finally have found a No 9 capable of reaching the numbers achieved by Diego Costa, the last striker to score 20 Premier League goals for the club in a season, a feat he managed twice in three years at Stamford Bridge.
Joao Pedro, of course, is still a long way short of that milestone this season. But carry on scoring at the same rate and he will eclipse the totals of those to have come closest in Nicolas Jackson, who scored 14 two seasons ago, and Tammy Abraham, who hit 15 in 2019/20.
Before all that, though, there is Sunday's trip to the Emirates Stadium, and another opportunity for a striker establishing himself among the elite to test Saliba and Gabriel.
Benjamin Sesko is another No 9 catching the eye but Manchester United's resurgence under Michael Carrick owes just as much to their defensive performances. It's three clean sheets in six games so far. The return of Harry Maguire has made a difference.
Maguire had not started in two months at the time Carrick's appointment due to a thigh issue but his return to fitness has proved timely for the new head coach. The 32-year-old is in line to start a seventh consecutive game against Crystal Palace on Sunday.
He has mostly featured alongside Lisandro Martinez, with Ruben Amorim's back three now a thing of the past. But with Martinez absent due to injury against Everton on Monday, he proved similarly influential next to Leny Yoro, using his experience to guide the young defender and reaching double figures for clearances.
The quality of Maguire's defensive work has been apparent across the last six Premier League games. Having won 36 of his 44 duels in that period, he has the highest success rate of any player.
His future at Manchester United is uncertain, with his contract due to expire in the summer. A place in England's World Cup is no guarantee either given he has not yet had a call-up from Thomas Tuchel. Clearly, though, he has a lot left to offer.
Alex Iwobi and Emile Smith Rowe celebrated their former club Arsenal's North London derby win over Spurs in a video published on social media after helping Fulham beat Sunderland. Next up? Spurs at home, and a chance to inflict more pain on Igor Tudor's side.
On Friday Night Football, Wolves host Aston Villa live on Your Site Premier League and Main Event from 7.30pm, kick-off 8pm.
Leeds against Man City is the Saturday Night Football, live on Your Site Premier League and Main Event from 5pm, kick-off 5.30pm
Watch Brighton vs Nottingham Forest, Fulham vs Spurs and Man Utd vs Crystal Palace from 1pm across Your Site on Sunday, kicking off at 2pm, before Arsenal vs Chelsea at 4.30pm.
The last column proved a timely one as it outlined the need for Arsenal to unlock Eberechi Eze's full potential before he went and delivered his two-goal performance against Spurs.
