Chelsea will “likely finish 6th or 7th” because of these two players says pundit | OneFootball

Enzo Maresca has a frustrating habit of talking down expectations and talking down his team, but when he said last week that he thought his team would not be able to finish in the top 5 without Nicolas Jackson and Cole Palmer finding some form, he wasn’t wrong.

Sadly their subsequent attempts to find some form – both in the Conference League and in the game against Fulham on Sunday saw them draw two more blanks each.

On the London is Blue podcast they looked back at that game and drew some pretty morose conclusions:

“Cole maybe looked a little more dangerous in moments, in flashes, but still not showing that the the goal is near coming. And I think it’s the same with Nico too. These are the two guys that if you were going to say ‘hey I feel good about Chelsea’s last run here,’ you would need to see them take the step forward. And not just one of them, both of them,” presenter Dan Dormer concluded.

“Having your two biggest contributors over the course of the season, still on stall out mode, still missing in action, is the biggest point of concern for me, heading into the last run of games here. I think we can finish top 5, but it is extremely difficult. And we’ll likely finish 6th or 7th because Cole and Nico are not where they need to be.”

You can see them discuss the game in the clip embedded here:

Chelsea face huge struggle with key attackers out of form

Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson celebrate together. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

While Palmer looks short on confidence, Jackson looks short of confidence AND fitness. It’s not a recipe for success, let’s face it. Still, all we can do is take it game by game at this point.

We saw no signs they’re getting any closer to finding form a week ago, but it only takes a moment for things to change.