Nicolas Jackson is believed to be one of the reasons Chelsea are struggling this season. Unfortunately, the Stamford Bridge-based side currently lacks a better striker than him.

Christopher Nkunku, who Chelsea signed from RB Leipzig with the hope of using him as a striker, has been battling with different degrees of injuries.

Nicolas Jackson, who joined the Blues from Villarreal last summer, has been so bad in terms of converting chances that he is ranked third on the list of players who have missed big chances this season. He has missed a total of 21 big chances so far this season.

Despite that, Neville said on his podcast that he likes the 22-year-old Senegalese forward but noted that he ought not to be Chelsea’s first-choice striker.

“I actually like Nicolas Jackson. That might be an unpopular opinion on here, but I like him. I think he has a lot to give”, he said.

“He’s a young player. I think he cost…not stupid money but it’s his first full season in the Premier League, he’s scored quite a few goals and he keeps going.

“There’s a lot to be said about that. He might not be striker number 1 but if he was your striker number two or number three in a squad of 18 to 20 players, you’d say ‘I’ll take that’.”

Nicolas Jackson has scored 13 goals and provided 5 assists in 39 games in all competitions for Chelsea this season. He recorded one of his worst performances in the colours of the club in the FA Cup semi-final clash with Manchester City on April 20.

In the game, which ended 0-1 in favour of City, Chelsea outplayed City and created a lot of chances, which mostly fell to Jackson, but the Senegalese striker wasted them all.

“So for me, the performance Chelsea put in against Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-final was a hell of a performance. Good, really good. And if they had a forward who could finish more consistently than Nicolas Jackson then they would have won the game”, Gary Neville said.

“I think that’s what Chelsea’s owners should be looking at. Performance standards are not consistent and they’re awful when they’re awful – but actually their good looks quite exciting.”