Maresca says Chelsea star “in debt” to teammates and confirms he will start tonight | OneFootball

Enzo Maresca was asked in his press conference last night about Nicolas Jackson, his main striker who has missed the last 2 games suspended following a red card against Newcastle in the Premier League.

He is eligible for tonight’s Conference League final however, and will return to lead the line against Real Betis in Wroclaw. Maresca was asked whether he thought that the striker would turn up with a point to prove, and agreed he probably would.

Maresca says Jackson “in debt” with his teammates

The forearm smash which saw Nicolas Jackson sent off.

“I hope so. I hope so because I think Nico is in debt with his teammates. And the reason why is because in that moment, Newcastle away was for us the most important game. And he left his teammates with ten players for one hour,” Maresca said.

“So for sure he’s in debt. For sure he’s a good guy. For sure he recognised the mistake. He apologised to his teammates. That is very important. And I’m sure that tomorrow he’s going to do a very good game for us.”

Jackson pressure could backfire

Jackson is a player who puts a shift in anyway, so we never doubted his motivation. And in fact, there’s always the risk that is has the opposite effect – that the Senegal’s star urgency to score leads to him snatching at chances, and an eagerness to please clouds the sharpness he needs. We’ve seen him put a lot of pressure on himself before, and it doesn’t always help.

But after a nice long rest, we’re hoping he’s ready to cap off his season with an important contribution in the final. His runs in behind and aggressive leading of the press should go a long way to disrupting a vulnerable Betis defence, and if he can grab a goal too, all the better.