The race to finish inside the coveted Champions League spaces in the Premier League is really starting to heat up with Chelsea staring down the barrel of a disappointing 1-0 defeat at Fulham on Sunday.
Thankfully for the Blues supporters who made the short journey over to Craven Cottage, their side managed to dramatically fight back to pick up a crucial three points.
That was thanks to 19-year-old sensation Tyrique George making himself an instant hero off the bench with the equaliser before Pedro Neto thumped home the last-gasp winner.
Chelsea fans packed into Fulham’s home ground would have been largely impressed with the showing of Cole Palmer too, away from Neto and George stealing the limelight, with the ex-Manchester City attacker guilty of putting in some rather subdued displays prior to this 2-1 victory being clinched.
Chelsea's Palmer problem
Amazingly, the once unplayable 22-year-old is now without a Chelsea goal since netting versus AFC Bournemouth all the way back in January.
But, he was still lively in spurts versus Fulham to show Maresca that he warrants a first team spot, with Palmer involved in the slick passing move that resulted in the 20-year-old forward grabbing his side’s much-needed equaliser.
Moreover, the hot-and-cold number 20 would trudge off the Craven Cottage turf at the close of the dramatic victory with only six misplaced passes, alongside firing two efforts of his own at Bernd Leno’s goal to try and guide his team to a less nervy win.
Of course, Palmer is stil some way off the blistering best that has seen him tally up a stunning 14 goals and eight assists overall this season in league action, but there is enough on show to indicate that other underperformers are costing Enzo Maresca more dearly.
Instead, there is a bigger problem right now at the Bridge…
4/10 Chelsea star is becoming a problem
The Champions League chasers haven’t been the most front foot team in recent matches, considering Maresca’s side have only bagged five Premier League strikes across April to date.
Nicolas Jackson, unfortunately, finds himself deep in a barren spell up top, with the low-on-confidence forward now up to 13 games without a goal after firing even more blanks away at Fulham. Considering they rely on him so much to find the net, one could argue that he’s becoming a bigger problem than the aforementioned Palmer.
Minutes played
78
Goals scored
0
Assists
0
Touches
21
Accurate passes
12/16 (75%)
Shots
1
Big chances missed
1
Total duels won
1/4
Jackson just never looked confident leading the line for the Blues against Silva’s tricky hosts, with the Senegalese attacker failing to find the back of the net again by mustering up just one effort all contest.
He was also anonymous in large patches in an attacking capacity when attempting to find openings, with just 12 accurate passes accumulated, alongside weakly winning just one of his four duels.
Amazingly, within five minutes of the number 15 coming off the pitch, the Blues would celebrate hitting the back of the net through the aforementioned George, leaving Maresca with an almighty conundrum as to who he should select here moving forward.
Of course – much like Palmer – Jackson has displayed his class in the not so distant past at Stamford Bridge with nine goals powered home this campaign alone, but the scathing post-match reaction to his shoddy showing says it all, with London Evening Standard journalist Malik Ouzia dishing out a low 4/10 rating to the striker who he labelled as a “shadow” of his former lethal self.
There were jubilant celebrations at the final whistle as Chelsea picked up their 16th league victory of the season, but if they are serious about cementing a spot inside the top five, blindly sticking by a wasteful Jackson might prove to be a costly call.
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