Tim Sherwood has claimed that Nicolas Jackson played like he’s ‘in Soccer Aid’ during Chelsea’s win over Brentford on Sunday night.
The Blues moved up to second in the Premier League table after their 2-1 win over the Bees thanks to goals from Marc Cucurella and Jackson.
However, despite his goal on the night, Senegalese forward Jackson came under scrutiny for missing a close-range opportunity, when he fired over the bar.
After the match, Sherwood did not hold back in his criticisms of the forward and likened his abilities on the pitch to ‘a rapper or an actor’.
Speaking on Premier League Productions, Sherwood said: ‘Not just today, I think all season, well, since I’ve seen Nicolas Jackson, he’s so unpredictable.
‘At times he looks like someone playing in Soccer Aid who’s not a footballer. Look at this chance [Jackson’s miss from six yards], that looks like someone who is a rapper or an actor or something trying to play football.
Tim Sherwood ripped into one Chelsea star after their 2-1 win over Brentford on Sunday
Nicolas Jackson was the target of the criticism despite scoring the winning goal on the night
‘But then all of a sudden he just turns it on. He’s such a threat because he tries to get in behind, he doesn’t mind if he misses chances because he knows his one will come.
‘But we’ll show you something now [for Jackson’s goal] which is undefendable, you can’t defend this.
‘As soon as the ball turns over, Caicedo does brilliantly, and Enzo gives him the ball, once he’s in this position, not everyone can do this [run through and score], he’s got a talent to do this.
‘It’s incredible. He scores he hardest chances and misses the easiest ones, but you need to be a big character to do that because he always wants to put himself on offer.
‘I’ve got a lot of time for him. He’s scored nine Premier League goal now, that’s a very difficult chance [against Brentford], he’s got so much to do, he drives and drives, keeps his balance well, smashes it in the bottom corner, fantastic, wins them the game.
‘But he always puts himself on offer all of the time and I admire that from him’.
Despite Sherwood’s comments, Jackson has had a fantastic campaign for the Blues and has scored nine goals in the top-flight amid their rise up to second.
Though the win over Brentford put Chelsea just two points behind leaders Liverpool – who have a game in hand – Enzo Maresca insisted his side are not in the title race.
Jackson has scored nine Premier League goals for the Blues throughout the current campaign
As reported by The Mirror, Maresca said: ‘No matter how many games we win, I think we are not ready to compete for the title.
‘One of the reasons why is that the team that knows how to compete to win titles, they won’t concede goals we concede. A team that knows how to win titles, that is not a goal they know how to concede.’
‘Just two teams have conceded less than us. Defensively we’re not doing bad. We’d like to end with a clean sheet but there’s another team trying to score.’
As Maresca alludes to, Chelsea have only conceded 19 goals in the league this season, with Arsenal (15) and Liverpool (13) the only teams to have conceded fewer.
