Golden year at Chelsea: Nico Jackson breaks Salah’s record and aims Liverpool at the top

“A very important victory. It wasn’t an easy match. Brentford are a difficult team to face. It was difficult because they always play set pieces. But we won. I’m very happy.” And it couldn’t be any other way Nicolas Jacksona striker who is making fire and flames with Chelsea this year and with this evening’s goal against Brentford in the 16th round of the Premier League he has found the highest number of goals from open play (not from a penalty) since the start of the 2023 season /24. Twenty-three goals, one more than a Liverpool legend like Mohamed Salah.

As for Enzo Maresca’s directives and the effect they brought to the Blues: “Let’s listen to the coach – he told BBC Sports -, we respect the plan and we did it. It was more difficult in the end because they wanted to score again. We are getting to know each other better. Last year is over, now we focus on this year.”

The 23 year old Senegalese he could have even found more than one goalas he himself said: “I made a mistake once, but I thought I’d give it another try and try to score to help the team win. And so it was. It’s just a matter of gaining more experience. I’m gaining more confidence. We try to win every game and focus on the next one. I don’t look at the rankings.”

Saturday 14 December
Arsenal – Everton 0-0
Liverpool – Fulham
Newcastle – Leicester 4-0
Wolverhampton – Ipswich 1-2
Nottingham Forest 2-1 Aston Villa

Sunday 15 December
Brighton 1-3 Crystal Palace
Manchester City – Manchester United 1-2
Chelsea 2-1 Brentford
Southampton – Tottenham 0-5

Monday 16 December
Bournemouth – West Ham

Classification
Liverpool 36
Chelsea 34
Arsenal 30
Manchester City 27
Nottingham Forest 28
Aston Villa 25
Brighton 24
Bournemouth 24
Fulham 24
Tottenham 23
Brentford 23
Newcastle 23
Manchester United 22
West Ham 18
Crystal Palace 16
Everton 15
Leicester 14
Ipswich 12
Wolverhampton 9
Southampton 5