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It was clear to see Nicolas Jackson's frustration at the Vitality Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The 22-year-old striker picked up his fourth booking of the season in the second-half down on the south coast for dissent after the referee called him up on continuously having his arms around a Bournemouth player at a free-kick.
"Because he's a striker and he needs to score," Mauricio Pochettino answered when asked about Jackson being booked four times this season already. "He is disappointed and frustrated, when something happens sometimes he complains, and today the rules about complaining to the referee is directly a yellow card. It's a rule and we need to accept it."
Jackson was frustrated and he had every right to be. After a glistening pre-season tour of the United States, where Chelsea supporters felt as if they had finally solved their goal scoring woes, there were very high expectations of the Senegal international. And his form continued into the first game of the season against Liverpool, albeit without a goal to his name at Stamford Bridge.
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The striker, who was signed for £30million in the summer transfer window from Villarreal, missed a golden opportunity on his Premier League debut. On 43 minutes into the opening game of the season for Chelsea, with the score level at 1-1, Reece James whipped a low cross to the near post and found Jackson perfectly but the finish was far from perfect. He skied it from very close range, leaving the striker floored with his head in his hands.
Despite this huge opportunity, though, Jackson was brilliant on the day. It was essentially the perfect striker's performance without actually finding the back of the net. He was a real nuisance to Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk on the day.
West Ham United was next up for Chelsea and Jackson was deservedly handed another start. This was a game of fewer chances for the Senegalese forward but there was one glaring opportunity in the early stages at the London Stadium. Ben Chilwell delivered a fine cross to find Jackson but the centre-forward headed over the Hammers' goal.
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Chelsea ended up losing that game in east London after a wasteful display in front of goal from the whole team. Next up was a must-win at home to the newly-promoted Luton Town and it was a night that Jackson in particular would never forget.
Jackson scored his first – and to date, only – goal for the Blues in the 3-0 win against the Hatters. A fine cross from Raheem Sterling was capitalised on by Jackson, who showed a real poacher's instinct to score Chelsea's third of the evening at Stamford Bridge.
It had only taken Jackson three games to get his first goal for the club but it had felt like a long time coming because of the two golden chances he had missed in the previous couple of matches. Chelsea fans alike would have been delighted that Jackson, who has already turned into a bit of a favourite among supporters, scored his first goal and the expectation was that he would use his opening strike as momentum.
However, next time out against Nottingham Forest, Jackson missed probably his most guilt-edge chance to date. After some fine work from Sterling, who has linked up well with the striker in the opening few matches of the campaign, on the right-hand side, Jackson was found a few yards out from goal but he smacked the ball over the crossbar.
The Blues would pay the price for that, with Forest holding onto their one-goal lead to win the match at Stamford Bridge. After a two-week international break, where Jackson flew back to Africa to join up with his Senegal teammates, it was more of the same for the striker away at Bournemouth on Sunday afternoon.
While he did not have as good of a chance as he has done in previous games this season, Jackson was once again frustrated in front of goal. His best chance came when Lesley Ugochukwu slid a ball through to the striker in the 53rd minute. The angle was tight but Jackson had a swing at the ball with his left foot and it went horribly wide.
It means Jackson now has a 3.03 xG this season and with just one goal to his name, he has the biggest negative differential in the Premier League. All of this effectively means he is statistically the worst finisher in the division in the opening five matches.
On average, Jackson is recording 3.8 shots per game this term. There have only been 11 occasions of a player recording that many shots on average per game in the last three seasons. Those said players have all gone on to score at least 17 goals.
There is no question that Jackson needs to start scoring – and fast, because Chelsea fans will lose patience eventually. But what he is doing elsewhere is impressive. Jackson makes very intelligent runs off the ball to create space for himself or his teammates.
His work-rate is also super impressive. Pochettino cannot ask Jackson to work any harder than he already does when his side are not in possession and that is exactly what he wants from his attacking players.
I don't, and you shouldn't, expect Pochettino to turn away from Jackson anytime soon. The Argentine clearly has so much admiration for the Senegalese striker. That admiration, coupled with the lack of other options, means Jackson is here for the long run.
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