Chelsea continued their spectacular begin to life beneath Enzo Maresca with a 3-0 win over native rivals West Ham on the London Stadium, as Nicolas Jackson scored twice.
Jackson wanted simply 18 minutes to breach a porous West Ham defence twice, breaking in behind to supply two composed finishes and depart the hosts with a mountain to climb.
Julen Lopetegui’s group briefly improved earlier than half-time however their hopes of a comeback have been dashed by Cole Palmer’s strike virtually instantly after the interval.
Whereas Chelsea are actually unbeaten in 4 league video games and sit second within the early-season standings, West Ham stay 14th with 4 factors forward of Saturday’s different fixtures.
3 & 5 – Enzo Maresca is the primary supervisor to win every of his first three away Premier League video games since Pep Guardiola in September 2016, whereas Chelsea have gained 5 consecutive away top-flight matches for the primary time since December 2021 beneath Thomas Tuchel. Travels. pic.twitter.com/RsNZnwsPJW
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) September 21, 2024
Jackson caught West Ham chilly with the opener inside 4 minutes, slotting his end by way of Alphonse Areola’s legs after being performed in by Jadon Sancho, who was making his first Chelsea begin after aiding Christopher Nkunku’s winner at Bournemouth.
He had his second 14 minutes later, ending with the surface of his boot after receiving a pinpoint throughball from Moises Caicedo, then he turned supplier because the Blues killed the competition early within the second half.
Simply 68 seconds after the restart, Jackson scampered over midway with the house defence retreating, then teed up Palmer to crash his end into the far nook and cap an pleasing outing for Maresca’s facet.
Knowledge Debrief: Two sides to Jackson’s recreation
Jackson was criticised for his wastefulness in his debut season at Stamford Bridge, underperforming his anticipated targets (xG) figures by a major margin with 14 Premier League targets from 18.64 xG.
He appears a participant reborn beneath Maresca, although, taking his two early possibilities with nice composure to maneuver to 4 Premier League targets for the marketing campaign – solely Erling Haaland (9) has extra.
Most Premier League Aim Involvements since 2023-24:
Erling Haaland – 41
Cole Palmer – 39
Ollie Watkins – 35
Mohamed Salah – 34
Bukayo Saka – 30
Son Heung-Min – 29
Phil Foden – 27
Nicolas Jackson – 25
Alexander Isak – 25
Jarrod Bowen – 24 pic.twitter.com/mncVTQZlHk— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) September 21, 2024
He additionally confirmed his unselfish facet by teeing up Palmer for a crashing end shortly after the second half started, incomes his second help of the season.
For the reason that begin of final season, Jackson and Palmer have mixed for 10 Premier League targets – no less than two greater than another duo. Their partnership will proceed to be key on this new Chelsea period.