{"id":1291,"date":"2026-04-27T11:14:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T11:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=1291"},"modified":"2026-04-27T11:14:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T11:14:14","slug":"he-made-a-big-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=1291","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;He made a big difference&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-content\" data-postid=\"5159762\" data-slug-id=\"2773962\">\n<div class=\"vidazoo-player-container\">\n<span class=\"vidazoo-close-btn  hidden \"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/cmc-predictor\/v2\/cross-icon.png?w=40\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" alt=\"close\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Liverpool icon Steven Gerrard has lavished praise on Chelsea forward Joao Pedro after the Blues&#8217; 1-0 win over Leeds United in the FA Cup semi-final on Sunday. The Blues were in action for the first time since the departure of Liam Rosenior and secured a much-needed win at Wembley.<\/p>\n<p>Enzo Fernandez captained the team and scored the only goal of the game in the 23rd minute. While it was a huge performance from the midfielder, Gerrard directed his praise towards Pedro instead.<\/p>\n<p><template id=\"template__newsletter-inline-banner-form-combo-widget\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<p><img id=\"subscribe-img\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Thanks for the submission!\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<p>The Brazilian, who joined Chelsea from Brighton &#038; Hove Albion last summer, had missed the defeats to Manchester United and his former club in recent weeks. Despite only returning from a knock, Pedro thoroughly impressed Gerrard as the focal point of the west Londoners&#8217; attack.<\/p>\n<p><template id=\"also-read-articles-template\"><\/p>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<p>Speaking on<em> TNT Sports <\/em>(h\/t <em>Metro UK<\/em>), Gerrard stated:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;He was a great focal point today. He\u2019s a lovely mover with the ball.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Remember in the second half when Cucurella wrapped one in and you\u2019re thinking as a centre forward thanks for that, it\u2019s coming in neck high and his first touch was absolutely beautiful.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Gerrard also added that the Blues play like a different team whenever Pedro plays for them, highlighting the big impact the forward made against Leeds.<\/p>\n<p>He concluded:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;I think Chelsea look a different team with him in and he made a big difference today.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Pedro has scored 19 goals, including 14 in the Premier League, in 46 appearances across competitions this term. He is expected to be part of the Brazil squad at the 2026 World Cup.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<h2>Chelsea will face Manchester City in the FA Cup final<\/h2>\n<p>The last time Chelsea won a domestic trophy was back in 2018, when Antonio Conte&#8217;s team beat Manchester United in the FA Cup final. Eight years later, the Blues will now face Manchester City with a chance to lift that trophy again.<\/p>\n<p>Pep Guardiola&#8217;s men set a record after their 2-1 win over Southampton in the semi-final. Manchester City are the first team to play four consecutive FA Cup finals. They beat rivals Manchester United in 2023, but lost each of the last two finals against the Red Devils and Crystal Palace, respectively.<\/p>\n<p>City are still in the hunt for a domestic treble after winning the Carabao Cup last month. The Premier League title race is expected to go down the wire as they chase down Arsenal, who are now three points ahead after playing an extra game. <\/p>\n<p>Chelsea, meanwhile, are at risk of failing to qualify for the Champions League next season after dropping to eighth place in the table.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-post-rating-widget\">\n<p><template id=\"post-rating-feedback-modal-template\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-feedback-box\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-content\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-data\">\n<p>Why did you not like this content?<\/p>\n<p><textarea id=\"dislike-feedback-text\" rows=\"4\" placeholder=\"Please type your feedback...\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<button class=\"close\">Cancel<\/button><br \/>\n<button class=\"submit\">Submit<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-widget-parent hidden\">\n<div class=\"rating-parent-container\">\n<div class=\"rating-content-holder\">\n<p>Was this article helpful?<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-action-container\">\n<div class=\"like-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-like-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"like\" title=\"like article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"like selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dislike-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-dislike-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"dislike\" title=\"dislike article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-dis-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"avatar selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Thank You for feedback\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tag-cloud\">\n<div class=\"tags-text\">\n<div class=\"scrollable-content-holder  article-padding\">\n<p class=\"article-p  \">Quick Links<\/p>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerLeft\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Left \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"background: none;\" src=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-left.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button><\/p>\n<nav id=\"pnProductNav\" class=\"pn-ProductNav\">\n<\/nav>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerRight\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Right \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"background: none;\" src=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-right.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<p>More from Sportskeeda<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<span class=\"publisher-name\">Edited by Nived Zenith<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Liverpool icon Steven Gerrard has lavished praise on Chelsea forward Joao Pedro after the Blues&#8217;&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}