Dunk: The more Joao scores, the happier I am!

Lewis Dunk was delighted to see Joao Pedro make it 15 goals for the season with his brace against Stoke City in the Emirates FA Cup on Saturday.

The Brazilian headed home his first to make it 3-2, before putting the game to bed when he slid home from Jan Paul van Hecke’s pull back.

“Joao is delivering and he’s still got even more to give,” Dunk said. “This manager works in a certain way and the more Joao works with him, the more he’s learning, the more he scores, the happier I am! So hopefully he keeps finding the back of the net.”

van Hecke made amends for his early own goal with a fine assist for Joao, with Dunk proud of the improvement his fellow defender has made.

“It sums him up as a person, he will give you everything he has got every single day on the training pitch and in games,” Lewis continued. “I’ve said it before, it’s the biggest improvement I’ve seen in a player and I love it.

“He deserves to get that assist, a great assist, after scoring the own goal. I’ve scored loads in my time. I am buzzing for him.”

The 32-year-old now wants to use the result as a springboard in the competition, having reached the semi-finals last season.

“I don’t think we need to prove the worth of the FA Cup, we’re in it to win it. We’ve reached the semi-finals twice in the last few years and lost, we want to make that right.

“We want the opportunity to reach another final for the club. Last season we didn’t get the result we felt we deserved in the semi-final.”