Chelsea are now starting to showcase some real promise and climb the Premier League table under Mauricio Pochettino.
Days after beating Tottenham at Stamford Bridge, the Chelsea players backed it up by dispatching a sorry West Ham United side 5-0.
That’s two huge London derby wins on home soil and two clean sheets – all of which are deserved.
For many players, it has been a rough ride. One minute, they are getting verbally battered from pillar to post for their performances – cite back to their draws to Burnley and Sheffield United
And the next, they are getting lauded and applauded for what they are producing – go back to their stunning win over Manchester United.
It’s part of having to play for such a pressure cooker of a team like Chelsea and Nicolas Jackson epitomises that.
You can’t argue that his manager has shown so much faith in him and that hasn’t stopped from day one.
Before a ball was kicked against West Ham, Michael Owen claimed that the Chelsea boss thinks ‘more’ of him than everybody else, as he told Premier League Productions (05/05/24 at 1:45 pm).
The former striker added that there were ‘question marks’ over Jackson’s head, but it’s fair to say that he is answering those critics in fine style now.
He bagged himself a brace against the Hammers to take his Premier League goals tally to 13 for the season – and there are still three matches to play.
Nicolas Jackson’s Premier League goals
“I think Pochettino thinks more of him than the general public would,” said Owen.
“I think there are still question marks alongside this guy. In many ways, he is similar to Darwin Nunez at Liverpool. Not entirely in how he plays. But he misses an awful lot of chances, you expect him to score and then he will score chances where you think ‘wow, how did he do that’.
“He is the mixture of the ups and downs of the season.”
Young Chelsea squad
It has been a difficult ride, and in truth, it still is, but for the first time in a long time, you sense there is light at the end of the tunnel.
On paper, Chelsea are set to better their performances and results from the previous campaign.
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They are sitting seventh in the Premier League table and are two points behind Newcastle United – a Europa League spot.
Of course, the aim is to, at a minimum, be playing Champions League football. But they can’t fight for that until next season now.