Chelsea are currently preparing for a Conference League semi-final clash against Djurgarden on Thursday night, but the club’s ongoing battle in the Premier League may be deemed more important by a lot of supporters.
The Blues are currently sitting in fifth position in the Premier League table, with the top five clubs qualifying for next season’s Champions League. However, they’re only above sixth-placed Nottingham Forest on goal difference, who have played a game less.
If Chelsea don’t qualify for the Champions League, it’ll be three consecutive years without featuring in Europe’s elite club competition.
Enzo Maresca’s side were boosted by a 1-0 home victory over Everton on Saturday. Incidentally, Robert Sanchez made the Team of the Week after his individual performance in goal.
Chelsea have four league games remaining to collect enough points to stay in the top five.
Pat Nevin claims Nicolas Jackson may fire Chelsea to Champions League qualification
According to Pat Nevin, Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson may be the individual to help fire his team to Champions League qualification in the final month of the league season.
Nevin wrote in his BBC Football Extra email newsletter (28 April): “Chelsea may well just have timed it right after it looked like another season without Champions League football was going to fall through their grasp. The return of Nicolas Jackson to fitness in the nick of time might just see them over the line after his winner against Everton.”
While people usually look to attacking midfielder Cole Palmer to be Chelsea’s saviour on the football pitch, he’s not actually scored in his previous 17 games across all competitions.
As for Jackson, he ended his own 13-game goal drought at the weekend. The Senegalese attacker netted his 10th Premier League goal of the season with the winning strike against Everton, which was a thunderous low finish from outside the box.
| Season | Appearances | Goals | Assists |
| 2024/25 | 28 | 10 | 5 |
| 2023/24 | 35 | 14 | 5 |
Nicolas Jackson is confident Chelsea will qualify for the Champions League after he guided his side to three crucial points.
The centre-forward has been quiet in April since returning from an injury lay-off, but he played like someone regaining his confidence versus Everton. It’s certainly a good sign for the Blues going into some crunch fixtures.
Romeo Lavia praised Nicolas Jackson by suggesting his Chelsea teammate is a great finisher in training, so let’s see if he can replicate that in the next month.
Should Nicolas Jackson lead the line next season?
Jackson’s been a bit hit and miss during his opening two seasons at Chelsea, but he’s definitely shown enough to prove he can be an important part of the squad moving forward. However, he desperately needs some competition to help share the load.
The African forward stretches defences and links up play well, but there’s still an inconsistency to his finishing.
Chelsea can afford a ‘major’ signing at striker going into the summer transfer window, which we think would go down well with supporters.
If a proven goalscorer arrives at Stamford Bridge, 23-year-old Jackson could definitely learn a lot.
