William Gallas believes Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson needs to become a more ruthless goalscorer or risk losing his place in the starting XI to Christopher Nkunku.
Jackson made a promising start to life in England last season following his arrival from Villarreal.
The 17-time Senegal international — who has just one senior goal for his country to date — notched 17 goals and six assists in 44 appearances across all competitions, including 14 goals and five assists in 35 Premier League outings.
Jackson has continued in similar form at the start of this season, sitting on four goals and three assists after seven Premier League games.
Nicolas Jackson must target ’20 goals this season’, says Gallas
However, Jackson has missed 29 ‘big chances’ in the Premier League since the start of last season, with only Erling Haaland (37) missing more — though the Man City man has scored 19 goals more.
Waiting in the wings should Jackson’s form drop off is Nkunku who, fit again after serious knee and hamstring injuries last season, already has seven goals across all competitions this campaign despite limited minutes.
According to Gallas, Jackson must become more clinical to convince Maresca he deserves to remain in his starting line-up.
“Enzo Maresca knows what he is doing with Christopher Nkunku and Nicolas Jackson, he has them in competition with each other so they know they have to be at their very best to stay in the team,” Gallas told Prime Casino.
“They both want to start and they’ve both been showing that they can score goals, if one of them stops scoring then the other one will play.
“I think Jackson should be targeting 20 goals this season after getting 14 last year, he needs to keep improving because he knows he is in competition with Nkunku.
“Jackson has improved but he needs to do better, if he gets three or four good chances he needs to be scoring at least two of them. At the moment he needs five chances for every goal.”
Top photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
