‘Jackson fights under threat as Delap shines with Palmer on Chelsea debut’
Nicolas Jackson showed fight for his Chelsea starting spot against LAFC as Liam Delap shone on his debut alongside Cole Palmer.
The Blues got their Club World Cup campaign off to a winning start at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Monday (16 June) evening with a 2-0 triumph over LAFC.
Pedro Neto opened the scoring for Enzo Maresca’s side in the first-half with a neatly-taken goal, and Enzo Fernandez wrapped up the victory 11 minutes from time after latching on to a cross to fire past Hugo Lloris from close range.
Much of the build-up to the game was focused on Chelsea’s striker spot, though, with Jackson’s place in Maresca’s starting XI perceived to be under major threat after Liam Delap joined the club from Ipswich Town earlier this month for a reported £30million [BBC] fee.
Jackson was given the chance to stake his claim from the off by the Italian boss, and he impressed, while Delap came on as a substitute and also shone in his first Blues appearance.
Jackson and Delap finish with an assist each in win over LAFC
The Senegalese international netted 10 goals in 30 Premier League appearances last term, which was a poorer return than his debut Blues campaign, while Delap scored 12 goals in 37 league outings in a relegated Ipswich team.
Jackson’s Chelsea future is in further doubt amid their interest in Frankfurt striker Hugo Ekitike, but he proved his worth to Maresca against LAFC with a decent showing to potentially win over some doubters that have written him off as their main striker.
The 23-year-old set up Chelsea’s first goal with a delightful threaded through ball to Neto, who produced some trickery to cut back inside his opponent and score at Hugo Lloris’ near post, but the opener would certainly not have been made without Jackson’s inventive pass.
He went on to complete 13 of his 14 passes, have one shot on target, win three of his five ground duels and win the one tackle he attempted [Fotmob], so it was a successful evening for him on a personal level.
Delap only looked to take his fellow forward’s showing in his stride, though, as he entered the pitch in the 64th minute and soon began putting himself about with incredible force that saw him constantly running off the shoulders of the LA defenders.
The England youth international clearly wanted to match Jackson’s goal contribution tally for the game, and he was found by Cole Palmer on the right side of the pitch in the 79th minute before delivering a great cross for Fernandez to score the Blues’ second, not long after almost assisting the Argentine with a cut-back at the end of a driving run down the right.
It was a pretty simple win for Maresca’s side in the end, and Delap admitted after the game that it is “always healthy to have competition,” with Jackson while pundit John Obi-Mikel still backed the Senegalese striker to “be the main guy to start the season” up-front speaking after the game on DAZN.
Maresca must make a decision on Delap and Jackson and stick to it
Chelsea impressed on numerous fronts last season with Jackson as their first-choice striker for the majority of the campaign, but Delap will not have joined the club to be playing second-fiddle, and so a decision needs to be made soon by boss Maresca.
| Player | Appearances | Goals | Assists |
| Nicolas Jackson | 35 | 13 | 6 |
| Liam Delap | 41 | 12 | 3 |
Each player has their respective strengths and weaknesses, and a big positive of Jackson’s game has been that he has consistently linked up well with star man Palmer, whom the majority of the Blues’ good play is born from each week.
Delap’s debut highlighted that he could also provide a strong connection with the England international playmaker next season, though, as the two combined to set up Fernandez’ goal and the ex-Ipswich man constantly dropped deeper to receive the ball or spin off a defender, with Palmer looking to play a key pass.
Competition for places is always healthy, but changing the starting line-up for every game can also be detrimental to a team’s chemistry on the pitch, so Maresca needs to use this tournament as help to decide which of the pair is his main man in the Premier League and Champions League going forward.
He will be pleased that it is only set to be a choice of two strikers, with one surely due to depart after Football Insider revealed that Christopher Nkunku could push for an exit from Chelsea soon, with Tottenham and Bayern Munich both interested in his services [talkSPORT].