The incredible stats which show why Nicolas Jackson still has doubts despite his overall contribution | OneFootball

Nicolas Jackson is just one of those players – he’s either being talked about as the problem, or the solution.

After struggling at first he found his feet. Those who doubted him had to admit he had come on a long way. Now things have flipped back again, and he’s 5 games without a goal. That’s 5 games against some of the weaker teams in the league, 5 games where a single goal for Chelsea would have been worth points.

Nizaar Kinsella’s piece for the BBC today reveals some interesting facts and data about the striker’s streaky nature. He notes that the Senegal star notched just one in his first 7 Chelsea games. Oh no, we’ve bought a dud, we all thought.

Then things changed, mainly thanks to a hattrick against Tottenham last November. After that dry run to start, he scored 6 in 8.

But just as he looked to have turned the corner, he slumped again – 1 goal in 9 leading up to his departure for the Africa Cup of Nations this time last year.

We didn’t buy a striker that winter, but there was plenty of reason to believe we needed to. But then Jackson came back and banged in 4 in 8. All sorted? No, that was followed by 1 in 7. Just as we were about to go into the summer sure we needed a striker, Chelsea finished the season really well and Jackson scored 4 in 3.

Chelsea can’t handle Jackson streaks unless someone steps up

Jackson missed a big chance before scoring against Brentford. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Are you getting the picture yet? That’s not normal variance, that’s exceptional streakiness. This season isn’t been even more plain, divided into two sections 9 in 16 games which convinced everyone he was finally past his rookie struggles… followed by this recent barren spell.

Some players are just like that. We could certainly deal with it if we had other players chipping in. But the likes of Jadon Sancho, Pedro Neto and Noni Madueke aren’t doing enough, leaving Cole Palmer to do it all himself.