Jackson profits as Chelsea put the chaos behind them

In typically unconvincing fashion, Chelsea march on, thanks to the striker who is now, nestled nicely in Erling Haaland’s slipstream, perhaps the Premier League’s second-most-effective marksman.

- PETE HALL

The social media ridicule in the end became a difficult watch. Glaring misses in big games – the FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City a particularly profligate afternoon – saw Nicolas Jackson chastised by fans young and old, even his own, in a distasteful manner you only get from the brave souls sat behind their computer keyboards at home.

Only Haaland and another social media class clown, Darwin Nunez, missed more big chances than Jackson last season, leading to calls for the Senegal striker to be a makeweight for further incomings as Enzo Maresca shuffled his Chelsea pack in the summer transfer window.

Maresca, like several other more level-headed observers, was able to see the wood from the trees and understood that Jackson’s numbers – 17 goals in all competitions in his debut season, more than Didier Drogba managed in his – were enough to earn him time to cement his spot as Chelsea’s frontline hitman.