Nicolas Jackson: Chelsea striker making Maresca ‘very happy’ as he flips the script | OneFootball

Cole Palmer is stealing the headlines but spare a thought for Nicolas Jackson, who is spearheading an excellent start to the season for Chelsea.

Jackson enjoyed a positive start to life with the Blues after joining from Villarreal last year, scoring 14 goals in 35 Premier League appearances — a record that extended to 17 goals across all competitions. And yet, Jackson still came in for criticism for his supposed wastefulness.

In fairness, the Senegal international did miss the third-most big chances in the Premier League last season (24), behind only Erling Haaland (34) and Darwin Nunez (27). But then, that is a product of being a striker in the right place at the right time. The more chances you have, the more you’re likely to both score and miss, and Jackson did score 11 big chances, placing him eighth in the Premier League for that metric.

Regardless, Jackson is going about setting the record straight this season. The 23-year-old has already netted six Premier League goals so far this season, reaching that total from just 22 shots.

Jackson is one of 14 players to miss 5+ big chances so far this season but alongside Erling Haaland (11 goals, 6 big chances missed), Chris Wood (7 goals, 6 big chances missed) and teammate Palmer (7 goals, 5 big chances missed), is one of just four players from that group to score more goals than they have missed big chances.

What’s more, only five strikers have created more chances than Jackson this season (14), who is fifth among players in his position for passes completed (95) and sixth for final third passes completed (41).

Jackson’s improvement — both in front of goal and away from it — has not gone unnoticed by Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca, who has sung the praises of his centre-forward ahead of this weekend’s trip to Manchester United.

“Very happy,” Maresca responded when asked by reporters how he’s feeling about Jackson so far this season.

He continued: “First of all, Nicolas is helping us not only in terms of numbers but he is also helping us in terms of the way we want to play; the way he links with his teammates. He is helping us a lot in the process. Every time he drops, he gives us an extra man.

“We saw against Newcastle, when he drops he is causing problems. When he attacks in behind, he is quick and he can score goals. We are very happy and we are trying to work with him in different areas and one of the areas is when he drops, what he has to do.”

Jackson — who recently drew level with Fernando Torres on 20 Premier League goals for Chelsea — failed to score in two appearances against United last season but has been flipping the script this season.

He heads north to Old Trafford having netted against Liverpool and Newcastle United in his last two appearances and you’d back him to add the Red Devils to his collection.

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