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The Mauricio Pochettino undroppable stopping Enzo Maresca fully unleashing Chelsea game-changer

Nicolas Jackson's Chelsea form is making things tricky for one of his teammates
-Credit: (Image: Jacques Feeney/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)


Christopher Nkunku's quest to fully establish himself in the Chelsea starting XI looks set to go on for a little while longer. After such a frustrating debut campaign in west London, the 2024/25 season was always going to be a huge year in the Frenchman's career.

Chelsea's lack of a proven goalscorer last term was highlighted and many believed that Nkunku could prove to be the man to fill the void. After all, he enjoyed an extremely impressive season with RB Leipzig prior to his Chelsea transfer after contributing 23 goals and nine assists in his 36 appearances in all competitions.

Now back to full fitness and with new head coach Enzo Maresca looking to stamp his own mark on the team, it was very much seen as a new beginning for both the player and club. On the scoresheet in the team's first three pre-season friendlies of the summer as he netted against Wrexham, Celtic and Club America, the 26-year-old deservedly took his place in the starting XI on the opening weekend of the season against Manchester City.

That has proved to be Nkunku's only Premier League start from the team's first five games, with the player instead having to settle for a starting role in their two-legged tie against Servette in the Europa Conference League play-offs.

Even his match-winning strike in last Saturday's late 1-0 win at Bournemouth wasn't enough to see him rewarded with a starting spot for Saturday's trip to West Ham. Instead, Nicolas Jackson was preferred to him up front and Jadon Sancho got the nod over him on the left flank.

Both were to have a huge say on the game, with Sancho registering his second Chelsea assist in two games after slipping in Jackson for the opener. The striker was then to double his tally in the 18th minute with a well-taken strike from Moises Caicedo's smart pass, before adding an assist for himself seconds after the interval after playing in Cole Palmer.

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Jackson came in for plenty of praise from Maresca in his post-match press conference and it's not hard to see why after delivering a masterclass up front.

"Today, the performance from Nicolas [Jackson] and Cole [Palmer] was top; not only because they scored but we prepared the game expecting three against two because they build with three players and we expect that," said the Italian. "The way they work off the ball has been top. If we understand that we need that and with the desire, we can probably build something important."

When pushed further on Jackson, he added: "Fantastic. In terms of numbers, goals and assists since I arrived, he is doing well. Off the ball, he is working hard. If a player misses one or two chances, it doesn't mean he is not playing well. It can happen. All players miss chances.

"What is important is the complete performance. Against Bournemouth, it was a good performance and then in the last 10 minutes we changed something; Christo [Nkunku] was inside and was top. This is what we expect from all of them."

Chelsea do have an extremely promising player on their hands in Jackson and he may go on to develop into a proven Premier League goalscorer if he continues to grow at his current rate. Maybe in the headlines sometimes for his misses on goal, the Senegal international, who was an undroppable under previous boss Mauricio Pochettino, does an awful lot of things right both on and off the ball and it is now about putting everything together in his pursuit of becoming a top striker.

If Jackson continues to excel in his Chelsea performances then it will be bad news for Nkunku leading the line for the Blues in the Premier League. What complicates things even further for the France international is the competition on the flanks now following the summer additions of Sancho, Pedro Neto and Joao Felix.

All Nkunku can do at present is continue to look a threat off the bench - as he did do at West Ham after almost making it 4-0 with a header late on - and take his opportunity in the side when it comes. A chance in the starting XI will very likely come his way on Tuesday evening when League Two outfit Barrow make the trip to Stamford Bridge in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup.

Adding to his tally of three for the season will only help him and give Maresca something to think about ahead of next weekend's home clash against Brighton & Hove Albion. Maybe a frustrating time for the player with the starts he wants not coming his way, it is only a good thing for Maresca and Chelsea with Jackson making his mark up top and having a player of Nkunku's quality on the bench to come on and make an impact when required.