IF Kevin Keegan wants the latest lowdown on Wanderers ahead of Saturday's derby duel at Maine Road, he should put in a check call to Marcel Desailly.

The name Henrik Pedersen would figure prominently in the Chelsea captain's assessment.

Desailly - one of the best defenders of his generation - will not forget the powerful Dane in a hurry after Pedersen followed up his double strike at Leeds with his third goal in seven days in a Reebok head-to-head that underlined his emergence as a Premiership force.

Pedersen left Desailly and the rest of the Chelsea defence flat-footed when he headed home Youri Djorkaeff's corner to put Wanderers in front in the 63rd minute of Saturday's Reebok encounter, then twice left him rattled and red-faced.

The French international had his blushes saved when Pedersen - sent clear by Jay Jay Okocha - missed the unguarded goal after rounding Carlo Cudicini and was relieved again when referee Mike Dean took the lenient line and showed him the yellow card after he had been drawn into a cynical foul.

Keegan should be warned that Pedersen - who supported Manchester City from afar when he was growing up in Denmark - is bursting with confidence after waiting almost a season and a half to score his first Premiership goal then scoring three in the space of seven days.

"Sometimes you score and sometimes you don't," he says. "The first goal is sometimes difficult to come then the next one seems to come that little bit easier - I don't know why.

"I just think the difference is that I am a little bit closer to the goals than in the first few games I played, when I was playing on the left side. Maybe I've just been fortunate to get a few good balls. I'm not a good header at all so I'm really pleased with Saturday's goal. I just managed to get off my marker and made the header, luckily it went in."

Sam Allardyce, who selected Pedersen ahead of Michael Ricketts and Dean Holdsworth at Leeds after seeing him impress in training, saluted his new goal star.

"I'm really pleased Henrik is on a roll. He's showing some good touches with an appetite, pace and strength that is making us a more dominant force in terms of our attacking play.

"Like with most strikers, once you get one, your fears leave you and every time you go out you think you are going to score. It's a great bonus for us and if we can get Michael off the mark in open play, it will give us more options."

Pedersen's delight was tempered by the disappointment at seeing Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink snatch a last-gasp equaliser to deny Wanderers the victory he thought he had secured with his first league goal at the Reebok.

"We did well except for that last two minutes," he added. "We need to concentrate on the entire 90 minutes but we didn't do that. At some stages of the game we had some good play; Chelsea had the ball a lot and we were defending a lot but we did okay and with a little more luck we should have had all three points.

"Saturday is one of the games we have to do well in to get some points. I hope we can do that."