It was only a few weeks ago that Chelsea seemed to be in the thick of the Premier League title race, but those hopes now appear potentially dashed.
The Blues have dropped points in four straight matches, seeing them down to fourth in the standings, a point back of Nottingham Forest and six behind second-placed Arsenal.
Their latest match saw them held to a 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace, producing just a single shot on target of their 15 efforts at the Palace net.
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Head coach Enzo Maresca insists he’s never had his eyes on the standings through all the ups and downs.
“For me, it’s not about the table but how we can improve things,” Maresca said after the Crystal Palace draw.
“Two weeks ago, three weeks ago, we were talking about the title race. We knew that Newcastle and Villa would be there, [Manchester] City too.”
Striker Nicolas Jackson had a rough outing, ripping off four shots but failing to put any on target to trust Dean Henderson’s goal. However, Maresca was not concerned with his striker’s 90-minute misfire, suggesting the failure to score was down to nothing more than bad fortune in front of net.
“For a striker, sometimes they score all their chances, sometimes they don’t score,” he said when asked for his assessment of Jackson’s performance. “He had two or three clear chances today so that means he is there and ready. Hopefully next time he can be more lucky.”
Jackson had scored nine goals through the first 16 league games of the season, but has failed to hit the net in any of his last four, with Christopher Nkunku lurking as another option at the striker position.
