Chelsea fans anxious as 22-y/o star travels but doesn’t feature in international clash, not even on the bench

Chelsea fans will hope that all is well with striker Nicolas Jackson who travelled to Senegal for the international break but was not even named on the bench for their game against Rwanda over the weekend.

The 22-year-old has had a mixed start to life in west London, scoring one league goal in four games but his overall performance has been encouraging.

He led the line brilliantly against Liverpool even though he did not find the back of the net, he ran through the West Ham defence and even though his side ended up losing there was enough to see he would score goals.

Jackson then opened his account against Luton in the league and impressed when he came off the bench against Wimbledon in the League Cup before enduring a miserable game against Nottingham Forest in a match most of his teammates were below par.

Manager Mauricio Pochettino called for patience and time and predicted that the Senegal international would score a lot of goals in the Premier League.

He said: “We knew Nicolas Jackson’s quality when we signed him, we saw that before. It is not that we ask him to run and press the ball, he is quality in the way he recovers the ball, but he also can finish.

“It is only a matter of time, once he settles into the Premier League, he will show it more. Nicolas Jackson has top quality. I have no doubt that he can become one of the greatest strikers in the Premier League.”

Chelsea will hope that he features against Algeria tomorrow before returning to London to prepare for their trip to Bournemouth at the weekend.