Chelsea can axe Nkunku by unleashing "special" star who's their own Delap
da pixbet： Chelsea are able to pile on the misery for Ipswich Town later on in the Premier League with Kieran McKenna’s away side looking nailed on for relegation at this point.
da poker： But, the Blues did lose the reserve fixture at Portman Road back in December 2-0, with former Chelsea academy product Omari Hutchinson getting in on the goalscoring act for the Tractor Boys to get one over on his ex-employers.
Still, Enzo Maresca will hope his top-four-chasing side have enough about them to condemn their relegation-doomed opponents to another top-flight loss, with Christopher Nkunku perhaps dropping to the substitutes bench after a frustrating Europa Conference League showing on Thursday night among other drab outings.
Nkunku's season in numbers at Chelsea
Not even a leaky Legia Warsawa outfit in the Conference League would end up gifting the Frenchman a much-needed Blues goal, with Maresca’s men thankfully running out convincing 3-0 victors away from their wasteful number 18’s woes continuing on.
Indeed, the former RB Leipzig attacker would spurn a penalty opportunity away in Poland, with four total chances not finding the back of the net from the low-on-confidence forward.
That means Nkunku is deep in a goalless stretch of form, with his team’s last six games in all competitions seeing the 27-year-old flounder in front of goal.
An alteration up top could be deemed necessary to catch a porous Ipswich side off-guard, therefore, with the visitors to Stamford Bridge later on today giving up a high 65 goals in league action.
Bringing one certain striker back into the first-team fold could really end up causing the lowly opponents all sorts of bother subsequently, leading to an out-of-sorts Nkunku being unsurprisingly axed.
Nkunku's "special" Chelsea replacement
Maresca hasn’t exactly had lady luck on his side this season in the striker department with a whole barrage of injury issues resulting in Nkunku leading the line in lacklustre fashion.
Now, the Italian will feel relieved he has Nicolas Jackson back at his disposal, with the former Villarreal centre-forward in line for a start against Ipswich after battling through his own injury setbacks. That return could come amidst recurring Liam Delap transfer talk, throwing into doubt his place as Chelsea’s first-choice number nine next term.
Jackson vs Delap – PL stats (24/25)
Stat
Jackson
Delap
Games played
25
30
Games started
23
29
Goals scored
9
12
Assists
5
2
Big chances missed
17
10
Big chances created
6
3
Stats by Sofascore
Even from his limited game time owing to injuries this season, Jackson has shown obvious spurts of quality when lining up as Maresca’s main marksman, with a mightily impressive 14 goals and assists combined from just 23 league starts.
Nine of those have been strikes hitting the back of the net even as Jackson has missed a whopping 17 big chances, but unlike Nkunku who never seems to drag himself out of the mire, his Senegalese counterpart has managed to ease some of the rampant criticism that has come his way by putting in clinical displays here and there.
Nkunku finds himself on a lower three goals in the demanding top-flight on the contrary, and with his confidence not exactly beaming after his no-show in Poland, bringing Jackson in from the start feels like a no-brainer.
After all, the Blues number 15 has even been heralded as “special” in the past by football journalist Rahman Osman, with Maresca also boldly publically declaring Jackson as the “perfect number nine” in the build-up to the clash with Ipswich, amid that speculation around Delap.
Therefore, Nkunku’s days could be numbered as the leading man, with Jackson potentially helping Chelsea to consolidate a spot in the Premier League top four if he can cause Ipswich defenders havoc today.
Up against the man who could potentially replace him in Delap – a player Maresca even described as “fantastic” ahead of the game – Jackson needs to prove why he should remain as the main centre-forward next season.
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