Enzo Maresca fires stark Chelsea warning over Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson goal droughts

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Evening Standard

·18 de abril de 2025

Enzo Maresca fires stark Chelsea warning over Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson goal droughts

Blues boss admits his concern as key attacking duo fail to find the net again despite surprise starts against Legia Warsaw

Enzo Maresca has warned Chelsea cannot qualify for the Champions League if Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson do not rediscover their shooting boots.

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In a damning assessment of his side’s attacking woes, the Italian admitted he is worried at the Blues’ sudden reliance on defender Marc Cucurella for goals and suggested their season could go up in smoke if Jackson and Palmer do not end their long droughts soon.

In a bid to get them firing, Maresca handed both players surprise starts in Thursday night’s Conference League defeat by Legia Warsaw, after which his team were booed off despite reaching the semi-finals with a 4-2 aggregate win.

However, Palmer and Jackson were each replaced without finding the target and remain on the longest goal-less runs of their Chelsea careers, now standing at 15 and 12 games, respectively, across all competitions.

“Using them was to build physical condition and [also] mentally a bit because they struggle to score in this moment,” Maresca explained. “So, to give them 45 minutes or one hour is also a chance to see if they can score and go again. When they don’t score, for sure I’m worried.”

Chelsea’s goal on the night in a 2-1 loss instead came from Cucurella, who has found the net six times since mid-December, making him the club’s top scorer in that time.

“If Cucu is the one who is scoring more goals for us in this moment, then we need to be worried,” Maresca admitted. “Hopefully, we can have our offensive players start to score goals very soon.”

Chelsea have set their sights on twin targets between now and the end of the season, seeking to win the Conference League and, more importantly, secure a Champions League return by finishing in the Premier League’s top five.

Currently, though, they sit sixth and could have slipped another place by the time they face Fulham in a west London derby at Craven Cottage on Sunday.

Asked whether his team could still achieve those goals without Palmer and Jackson returning to form, Maresca simply replied: “No”.

However, he is still backing both players - who have 23 league goals between them this term - to come good during the run-in.

"I’m confident because they have scored goals,” Maresca said. “They just need to turn that moment. Cole scored 14 goals in 20 league games, Nico was the same before the injury. Now he was out for two months so physically he needs a bit more.”