Enzo Maresca has reasserted his faith in Nicolas Jackson’s Chelsea future. He has revealed that the young striker has the maturity needed to be the one to lead the line at Stamford Bridge for years to come.
This follows Jackson’s dismissal after being sent off against Newcastle. It is an act of indiscipline and has been condemned as such. However, as far as Maresca is concerned, the player has fully owned up to his errors:
“I think Nico is intelligent enough to recognise that there has been an error, a mistake.”
He insisted in his press conference that the Senegalese international had the maturity to continue in the first team squad, moving forward:
“Yeah, I think so. It’s normal that after a red card the light is on Nico but overall, it’s something that is not about Newcastle or the first game of the season. It’s something that if you can avoid, it’s good.”
Aside from this, the Blues look set to pick up the most yellow cards in the Premier League for a second successive year. At the moment, they are on 98 cautions from just 36 games. Maresca, however, does not view it as an issue at a systemic level:
“I don’t know, to be honest. It’s probably the way we try to be intense, aggressive (without the ball). It’s a good question that probably we need to analyse during the summer when we have some time off, to see if there is something that we can do better.”
How Nicolas Jackson Picked up a Red Card
Nicolas Jackson was dismissed in the first half of Chelsea’s 2-0 defeat at St James’ Park. VAR concluded that he purposefully elbowed Newcastle defender Sven Botman, who fell to the ground after the aerial challenge.
His dismissal and suspension have left the Blues without an accepted striker for their remaining Premier League matches. They will face Manchester United and Nottingham Forest before the season ends.
