Enzo Maresca has conceded that Chelsea’s hopes of securing a Champions League spot this season hinge on Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson breaking their goal droughts. If the Blues falter in Sunday’s derby against Fulham, the Blues’ chances of qualifying could take a huge hit.
In 2025, Chelsea’s leading scorer is left-back Marc Cucurella, highlighting their lack of firepower upfront, as evidenced in Thursday night’s home defeat to Legia Warsaw in the Europa Conference League. Despite the loss, Chelsea managed to secure a semi-final berth against Swedish minnows Djurgarden with a 4-2 aggregate win.
The dip in form of England forward Palmer is particularly concerning for Maresca, who is struggling to get the best out of his £1.5 billion squad. Last season’s top scorer with 24 goals, Palmer has been a shadow of his former self, looking weary and out of sorts in a central role after thriving on the right flank under Mauricio Pochettino. He hasn’t found the back of the net since January 14.
Jackson, too, is goalless in his last 12 appearances dating back to December, while Christopher Nkunku is enduring an eight-match dry spell. Maresca fielded all three players in the starting line-up against Legia in an attempt to boost their confidence and fitness levels.
Chelsea’s recent slump continued as they failed to ignite Stamford Bridge, with head coach Enzo Maresca lamenting the lack of connection with the fans and the team’s inability to bounce back from their lacklustre performance against Ipswich. When quizzed on whether Chelsea could still achieve Champions League football and silverware without Palmer and Jackson rediscovering their scoring touch, Maresca was blunt: “No.”
He added: “Yeah – hopefully, very soon Nico and Cole can start to score goals because they are very important for us. The one scoring at the moment is Cucurella. That is not a good thing because he is not the one to score the goals.
“It’s the first moment for Cole when he’s struggled in general. The only thing he has to do is to continue working hard, because for sure very soon he’s going to start scoring goals for us.”
“They just told me that in his first 20 Premier League games, he scored, I think, 14 goals. So to score 14 goals in 20 games is a huge number, a fantastic number. Now it’s a moment for him where he’s struggled, but he has to continue because for sure he’s going to score goals very soon.”
Maresca concluded by acknowledging the difficulties faced by players under intense scrutiny: “For sure, a moment where you struggle is part of their career, their process, their season. Last year he had a fantastic season. This season we said many times that the way the team approaches him is in a different way. Most of the time he’s being marked man to man. That is more difficult for any player in the world.
“But even with that, he scored 14 goals in 20 games, the first 20 games. So for me it’s just a matter of a bad moment, and in the moment that he’s able to score a goal, it will probably change again.”
