Chelsea continued their impressive start to life under Enzo Maresca with a 3-0 win over local rivals West Ham at the London Stadium, as Nicolas Jackson scored twice. (More Football News)
Jackson needed just 18 minutes to breach a porous West Ham de🍷fence twice, breaking in behind to ꦺproduce two composed finishes and leave the hosts with a mountain to climb.
Julen Lopetegui's team briefly improved before half-time but their hopes of a comeback were dashed by Cole Palmer's strike almost immediately after the int💦erval.
While Chelsea are now unbeaten in four league games and sit second in the early-s🌸eason standings, West Ham remain 14th with four points ahead of Saturday's other ꧙fixtures.
Jackson caught West Ham cold with the opener inside four minutes, slotting his finish through Alphonse Areola's legs after being played in by Jadon Sancho, who was makin♐g his first Chelsea start after assisting Christopher Nkunku's winner at Bournemouth.
ꦆHe had his second 14 minutes later, finishing with the outside of his boot after receiving a pinpoint throughball from Moises Caicedo, then he turned provider as the Blues killed the contest early in the second ꦰhalf.
Just 68 seconds after the restart, Jackson scampered over halfway witඣh the home defence retreating, then teed up Palmer to crash his finish into the far corner and cap an enjoyable outing f💎or Maresca's side.
Data Debrief: Two sides to Jackson's game
Jackson was criticised for his wastefulness in his debut season at Stamford Bri🍌dge, underperforming his expected goals (xG) figu🌼res by a significant margin with 14 Premier League goals from 18.64 xG.
He looks a player reborn under Maresca, though, taking his two early chances with great composure to move to four Premier League goals for the c♒ampaign – only Erling Haaland (nine) has more.
He also showed h🍸is unselfish side by teeing up Palmer for a crashing finish shortly after the second half began, earning his second assist of the season.
Since t𒉰he start of last season, Jackson and Palmer have combined for 10 Premier League goals – at least two more than any other duo. Their partnership will continue to be key in ༺this new Chelsea era.
