“Could have scored seven” – Paul Merson analyses Chelsea star’s performance against Tottenham

Paul Merson feels Chelsea forward Nicolas Jackson should have had seven goals against Tottenham Hotspur

Paul Merson believes Nicolas Jackson could have scored seven goals had he not missed other chances after the former Villarreal striker bagged his first hat-trick for Chelsea in a 4-1 win against Tottenham Hotspur.

Chelsea entered this game as the underdogs given that Tottenham Hotspur had been undefeated under Ange Postecoglou and were leading the table prior to their loss to the Blues.

The commendable win saw Chelsea move to 10^th place and are now just seven points off of potential Champions League qualification despite a dismal start to the new season.

The North Londoners started the game with an instant lead in just five minutes through Dejan Kulusevski, but a red card to Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie changed the trajectory of the game as Chelsea exerted their control over the match.

They finally took the lead through Cole Palmer, who slotted the ball from the box, and Nicolas Jackson’s hattrick wrapped up the match. But pundit Paul Merson believes the Senegalese forward should have scored more, (h/t Football.London) he told Sky Sports:

“Nicolas Jackson could have scored seven! If he had shooting boots on, they’d have given him another match ball. But what I like about him is that he keeps getting into positions to score. That takes a lot of guts.”

Merson is entirely true. It might have been Jackson’s match if he hadn’t missed the several opportunities he had. The forward’s ability to be in the correct spot is something we can see working well, but as he is only 22 years old, he needs to improve his execution which hopefully will happen. Nevertheless, as we saw against Spurs, we have a ruthless striker at our disposal who will soon become a monster once he develops a clinical edge.

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However, Jackson will greatly benefit from that hat-trick. It will boost his sense of self-worth greatly, and he will certainly grow with each game.