Emotion, grit, fights, controversies and goals have become a certainty in recent history whenever Tottenham Hotspur take on Chelsea and yesterday’s game justified exactly that as Chelsea won away at Spurs by 4 goals to 1, ending Spurs’ unbeaten league run in the process.
In a game which was full of drama and major talking points, we take a closer look into hat-trick hero Nicolas Jackson’s performance.
Disappointingly poor in the preceding game against Brentford, Mauricio Pochettino kept faith in Jackson and got rewarded with a hat-trick performance.
Jackson’s struggle against deep-blocks is sufficiently documented and his poor movement in the 18-yard box no doubt leaves much to be desired but his ability to run in behind and also act as an outlet means the Senegalese forward remains a really good option.
So it begs the question; Should Chelsea keep faith in Jackson as the leading number “9” or sign another top striker and have Jackson as a squad player instead?
Looking closely at Jackson’s performance in what was unarguably his best performance yet in Chelsea’s blue saw the former Villarreal man boast 3/4 completed dribbles from 26 touches and 3 goals from an expected goals xG of 2.77 (FotMob).
Tottenham’s high defensive line played nicely into Chelsea’s speedy attackers hands which saw Sterling and Jackson both blossom and on a good day, the Blues could’ve come away with at least 6 goals if it weren’t for poor decision making in the final third (Cucu, Mudryk and Jackson himself were guilty of this).
Considering the league format of 20 teams in the Premier League, and “6 Big teams”, it would be no surprise to still see Jackson struggle in the odd games against “smaller opponents” who are prepared to pack the bus and deny space in behind their defences for someone like Jackson to exploit despite showing so much promise against the “Bigger” teams who play with an high line.
It feels like he has almost become a victim of his own good start, the fact he was so good in pre season meant naturally Chelsea fans thought they had their answer to Diego Costa and Didier Drogba.
But, this was a player who had a patchy record for Villareal and is still very young, he set himself such high expectations too early.
Three good goals on the night however is a massive positive and even more of a confidence booster when it comes against fierce rivals who are presently performing better at the moment as the league table clearly shows (Spurs 2nd and Chelsea 10th).
At worst, Jackson could become a cult hero, just like Olivier Giroud was. He has age on his side and already so many impressive attributes.
Another “Big 6” opposition is up next for Chelsea as the champions Manchester City come visiting on Sunday.
