Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca suggested that the club’s talismanic attacking midfielder Cole Palmer could be moved up front after two strikers pulled up injured this week.
Nicolas Jackson sustained a hamstring issue during Chelsea’s 2-1 victory over West Ham United on Monday night while Marc Guiu – the teenage forward who replaced him during that fixture – also damaged his adductor.
Guiu is expected to need “weeks or months” to recover whereas Jackson could be back in a matter of days. However, Chelsea face Brighton twice in the space of a week, forcing Maresca to potentially get creative with his selection decisions.
The obvious replacement for the injured duo is Christopher Nkunku. As Maresca acknowledged: “Christo has already played as a No9.”
The Italian has rarely trusted Nkunku to start against PREMIER League opposition and – even during his prolific outings in the Europa Conference League – the former RB Leipzig forward has regularly been deployed in a deeper role.
Maresca joked that he may be needed to lead the line before pointing to his top scorer: “Cole playing as a No9 in the past. We can find some different solutions. At the moment, we have not decided anything because we are still waiting for Nico [Jackson] and from there, we will see different options.”
Palmer has been almost exclusively deployed as a No10 in a 4-2-3-1 system this season, with his role in possession occasionally tweaked to target an area of weakness Maresca has spotted in the opposition.
The prolific midfielder does have some experience in a centre-forward role, sporadically forced up front during Mauricio Pochettino’s debut campaign at Chelsea and – more pertinently – when he played for City’s youth team which was coached by Maresca.
Chelsea’s shortage of natural forwards comes shortly after a transfer window which saw Joao Felix join AC Milan on loan. The Blues’ only winter arrival was teenage midfielder Mathis Amougou.
Maresca may insist that he has “no regrets” about his club’s recent recruitment, but was already looking to July. “In the summer, we will see if we need something different, not only in terms of striker but in general,” the Italian added. “It’s bad luck that in the same game, two strikers both have an injury.”
