Maresca forced to explain why he said Jackson injury was “ok” after latest devastating update | OneFootball

The devastating news last night unleashed by Matt Law in an exclusive for the Telegraph which revealed that Nicolas Jackson has an injury that will keep him out for at least two months has been a hammer blow to Chelsea, and all eyes were on this morning’s press conference where Enzo Maresca addressed the subject.

“As you already know, Nico will be out until the international break; probably available after the international break,” Maresca began, acknowledging the veracity of the story. He was then asked why the issue was so much more severe than initially thought – he said after the West Ham game that Jackson had told him he was “ok”.

The striker had also carried on playing in that game after initially picking up the issue. It seems he may have exacerbated the injury doing that:

“We knew it was a muscular problem but we didn’t know how important it was,” Maresca explained.

“His reaction was quite good so we all thought that was not a big injury but unfortunately he had the scan a few days ago and it was important one. He will be around six or eight weeks.”

He also confirmed Marc Guiu’s injury was “exactly the same” as Jackson’s.

Maresca must go back to the drawing board

Enzo Maresca looks concerned after a defeat. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

It’s a huge blow, but we’re past the stage of panicking now – what we need are solutions. As the transfer window came to an end, the manager insisted that he was well covered and had a number of options to choose from up top.

However, the reality of being without his two strikers for two months is extremely damaging. We’ve all seen Christopher Nkunku try to lead the line, as he did last Saturday night with little to no effect against Brighton. The whole attacking shape and strategy is going to need to change to try and get the best out of him, otherwise it’s going to be a painful two months.