Arsenal and France legend Thierry Henry has made some very interesting comments about Chelsea strikers of the past.

These days, it is Joao Pedro leading the line for the Blues, and the Brazilian has received a lot of praise this season. He is the club’s joint-top scorer in the Premier League alongside Morgan Rogers after scoring five goals.

However, there are a few former Chelsea No.9s who have not gained enough recognition, according to Henry.

Thierry Henry claims Samuel Eto’o, Didier Drogba and Olivier Giroud haven’t received enough credit

Samuel Eto’o, Didier Drogba and Olivier Giroud have all played for Chelsea and some of Europe’s other top clubs. At times in their careers, the trio sacrificed being a goal threat in the box to contribute in other areas, and Henry thinks they deserve more credit for that plus the goals they were able to score.

Speaking on Kampo, the legendary striker said: “I’ve played with so many players, where people don’t really talk about them. Think of Samuel Eto’o. When he comes to the Camp Nou and he plays right-back or left-back for the whole match with Inter, or now and then because the team needed that. That deserves credit too. He scored a huge number of goals and did a huge number of things.

“There are people who accept, at a given moment, whatever they’ve achieved, to stay on the left, move to the right, stay in the middle, do five minutes. Steven Gerrard, who goes and plays right-back in a Champions League final.

“There are guys, there are guys in history who’ve done things where you think… where they’ve reinvented themselves for the good of the team. I think that matters. Then we can talk about goals, about guys who often put themselves at the service of the team. Drogba and Olivier Giroud, it didn’t stop them scoring goals.

“But those guys, the team needs that, especially when you play away in the big matches. For me, there’s a difference between scoring goals and playing well. You can have scored and not have played well.”

Right now, Xabi Alonso would love to have Eto’o, Drogba or Giroud. While Pedro is currently one of the leading centre-forwards in England, he has missed Chelsea’s last four games because of injury.

Chelsea lost three of those matches, including a Carabao Cup tie against Liverpool. Danny Welbeck and Emmanuel Emegha are supposed to be Pedro’s deputies, but Alonso has not trusted either player this term.

Instead, in the absence of Pedro, Alonso has been using a false 9 in the Premier League. Pedro Neto has occupied the role in Chelsea’s last two league fixtures, while Morgan Rogers started up front in the 2-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur.

Simply put, it has not worked, but it does not look like signing a new striker will be a priority despite a few names being linked. Liam Twomey, a journalist at The Athletic, has not heard anything about Chelsea moving for a No.9 in January.

With that being the case, Chelsea fans will just be hoping that Pedro can remain fit after he returns from injury.