Enzo Maresca names 5 Chelsea players he’s looking at to replace Nicolas Jackson | OneFootball

Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca has been in front of the media cameras this afternoon taking questions ahead of The Blues’ next match.

Chelsea face Brighton away from home on Friday night in the Premier League after just facing them in the FA Cup last weekend.

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Chelsea lost 2-1 to Brighton on Saturday night in the fourth round of the FA Cup after being a goal ahead early doors. They will be hoping for a better outcome in the league as they battle for Champions League qualification this season.

Maresca has already been explaining that he could setup differently on Friday due to injuries to his only two strikers, Marc Guiu and Nicolas Jackson.

The Blues boss has also explained why he said he thought Jackson was initially ‘OK’ after his injury but he is not out for 6-8 weeks.

The big issue is Jackson of course and a lack of any natural number 9 for the foreseeable future. So who will Maresca use to cover for the injuries to his strikers?

Maresca names five options

Christopher Nkunku in action against Brighton in the FA Cup.(Photo by Steve Bardens/Getty Images)

As well as Christopher Nkunku, who will be the first choice in my view, the Italian has mentioned four other players who could play as striker.

These are the questions and answers below, as outlaid by Football London…

Could Christopher Nkunku play a big role now?

“Christo can be one of the solutions but he is not the only solution. We will try to find different solutions. I’ve said many times: I consider Christo a very important player since we started. The problem is they think they are only important if they play, if they don’t play they don’t feel like they are important.

“Now, also, with the transfer window closed, everyone is here. He can try and help us until the end.”

What are your other solutions?

“We are working, because of the Nico and Marc situation, we are trying to find different solutions. That can be Christo because he played the last game, or it can be different kind of players. If you don’t have a proper nine, who can be a threat always, you have to change not only the nine but also a bit the way you want to play.”

Could you play a winger as the No.9?

“It could be a solution, for sure. Noni [Madueke], Pedro [Neto] or even Tyrique [George], they can try and be a solution for us. Jadon [Sancho] with different kind of skills. When you don’t have a proper nine, you probably need to use a different kind of nine but you probably have to change the way you want to play. You cannot be direct; you probably need more linking because you don’t have a threat in behind. We will find a solution.”