Nicolas Jackson revealed his ‘Thriller’ goal celebration against West Ham was inspired by a dream he had two days ago after he starred in Saturday’s 3-0 Premier League win.
Jackson’s brace and Cole Palmer screamer secured another away win for the Blues and raised serious questions about the Hammers’ direction under new boss Julen Lopetegui.
All looks rosier in the Chelsea garden, by contrast, as Enzo Maresca’s side secured a third straight away win and climbed, for a few hours at least, to second in the table.
The tone of a chastening afternoon for West Ham was set with Chelsea’s first attack as a harmless looking free-kick found Jackson down the left.
The Senegal frontman cut inside far too easily and stroked the ball through the legs of Hammers keeper Alphonse Areola at his near post.
Just 15 minutes later Jackson had his second, his fourth of the season and a fourth in three appearances against West Ham.
Moises Caicedo played the ball forward and Jackson strolled through the chasm left by Hammers centre-backs Max Kilman and Konstantinos Mavropanos before slotting it past Areola.
The former Villarreal star celebrated with an ode to his namesake and later revealed the idea came to him during his sleep.
He said: ‘It was to remember the legend Michael Jackson. I was dreaming about this so I just did it. I dreamt it two days ago so I just did it.’
West Ham had been dreadful, although they did briefly threaten to halve the deficit with Jarrod Bowen lifting a good chance over the crossbar.
A VAR penalty check, after Summerville went down in the area after being pulled back by Wesley Fofana, went Chelsea’s way – ‘not sustained holding’ was the official explanation – before Mohammed Kudus had the ball in the net only to be flagged offside.
Whatever words of wisdom Lopetegui said at the break evidently had zero effect, as 70 seconds into the second half Chelsea had a third.
Jackson ran at West Ham’s hastily back-pedalling defence and slipped the ball to Palmer, who simply stepped away from Kilman and drove in his second goal of the campaign.
Maresca’s decision to persist with Jackson at the expense of last weekend’s matchwinner, Christopher Nkunku, was fully vindicated and former Chelsea star Joe Cole has been enthused by the former Villarreal star’s development.
‘I think Enzo Maresca saw they could break past West Ham and Nicolas Jackson is fantastic at that. It’s what he does,’ he said.
“[He has] good numbers. He is a young man, a young player, he’s learning his trade. People talked about Didier Drogba’s first two seasons when he wasn’t as prolific as he later became. Nevertheless, he has scored the goals and he will get better.
“He needs to just keep improving, be a bit more composed and [gain] more confidence. He will bounce into the next game now. I am very, very pleased for him.”
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