Joao Pedro hails Moses Caicedo for help in Chelsea winner at Tottenham

Joao Pedro has promised to take Chelsea team-mate Moses Caicedo out for dinner after he helped end his nine-game goal drought in Saturday’s 1-0 victory at Tottenham.

Summer recruit Pedro started life at Stamford Bridge with two goals in his first three Premier League games, but had failed to find the net since August before his 34th-minute winner in north London.

Pedro, who was thwarted on three other occasions by Spurs goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, was indebted to Caicedo after he won back possession from Micky van de Ven and teed up the Chelsea forward to fire home.

Caicedo was later described as two of the best defensive midfielders in the world by boss Enzo Maresca along with Manchester City’s Rodri.

Brazil attacker Pedro echoed that sentiment and reflected on the importance of his goal in a period where he has struggled to train due to unspecified fitness problems.

“Moses, everyone knows is a top, top player,” Pedro said.

“It is a pleasure to play with him and when he pass to me on the pitch, in the half-time I said I need to invite you to dinner, so yeah I just want to say thank you to him.

“Thanks to the team for the support. I scored but I still need to improve. I had a lot of chances, but we won the game.

“I think I needed this goal after a long time I don’t score for Chelsea and I think the team expect (goals) from me, so I just want to say thank you to Moses, thank you to the team and now we need to enjoy this victory.”

Chelsea’s fifth straight win at Tottenham helped them bounce back from a shock 2-1 home defeat to Sunderland on October 25.

It helped rebuild momentum for Maresca’s talented but youthful squad ahead of a midweek trip to Qarabag in the Champions League and Saturday’s visit of bottom-of-the-table Wolves.

Pedro added: “I think it was a big game, a derby and we know they are a good team.

“We knew we had to do 100 per cent to win this kind of game and we did. We won the game and now we need to look forward.”

Tottenham head coach Thomas Frank has major issues to solve in attack after they registered an XG (expected goals) figure of 0.05 – the lowest the club has recorded since records started in the 2012-13 season.

What will not help Frank’s cause is the likely absence of Lucas Bergvall for Tuesday’s visit of Copenhagen after he was forced off with suspected concussion early on during the loss to Chelsea.

“That was a concussion, so he totally couldn’t stay on and I think the medical team did a good job in that aspect,” Frank reflected.

“And even if he wanted to stay on, it’s the right decision.

“Of course, we would have loved to have him continue. That’s why we picked him in the starting XI.

“Unfortunately, that couldn’t happen. So others will step in. Xavi (Simons) knew the game plan.”