"Needs to cover his head in shame", "Playing better football without him" - Fans slam Chelsea star despite win over Fulham

Nicolas Jackson has been subjected to criticism for his performance during Chelsea's Premier League clash with Fulham on Sunday, April 20. The Senegalese forward struggled to make an impact in his center forward role as the Blues came from behind to win 2-1 at Craven Cottage.

While Chelsea came into the clash as top dogs, Fulham discarded their underdog status as they took the game to the visitors from the outset. Their strong start seemed to pay off when Andreas Pereira found the back of the net in the opening three minutes. However, a VAR intervention saw the goal chalked off for offside.

However, it only served as a temporary reprieve for the Blues, who soon found themselves behind. Ryan Sessegnon dispossessed Reece James and squared a pass for Alex Iwobi (20'), who unleashed a left-footed effort from the edge of the area into the bottom corner.

Chelsea picked themselves up in response, pinning Fulham back for the majority of the game after falling behind. However, their failure to create any clear-cut chances saw the first half end in favor of the hosts.

As expected, Maresca’s men applied more pressure after the restart. However, they only got the desired response after Enzo Maresca decided to introduce 19-year-old Tyrique George for Nicolas Jackson. The Cobham graduate put the Blues back on level terms in the 83rd minute with a fine strike from the edge of the box.

Momentum was with Chelsea going into the closing stages, and they were able to turn their dominance into victory. Pedro Neto powered a volley into the roof of the net in the third minute of stoppage time.

While Chelsea got the win, a section of fans was unimpressed with Jackson’s performance. The 23-year-old had zero shots on target in his 73 minutes, missed one big chance, lost possession eight times, and received a rating of 6.4 as per Sofascore.

Here are some of the fans’ reactions below:

''Nicholas Jackson needs to cover his head in shame,'' an X user wrote.

Another tweeted:

''Jackson should be ashamed of himself.''

''Pls start George ahead of Jackson. We're playing better football without him for now,'' @topranger223 wrote.

''When we play with Jackson we play with 10 men istg,'' @CFC_Bush added.

''Jackson another player who should be very ashamed of himself,'' @aaai_ian added.

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Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca says he’s very happy after 2-1 win over Fulham

Enzo Maresca was delighted with his side’s victory over their London rivals. Despite conceding first, Maresca insisted that they deserved to win the game.

He said in the post-match press conference (via BBC):

"Very happy. First of all because I think we deserved to win the game. We started well in the first 20 minutes then we conceded a goal unfortunately and in a match that is must win, it's not easy for the players.

"It becomes more difficult but second half, we also changed something tactically and it was much better. We were a little bit more dynamic with Malo Gusto inside. He is doing this fantastically for us since day one and second half we were much better."

Chelsea have now moved to the fifth position on the Premier League table, with 57 points after 33 matches.