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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Marc Mayo

Ben Chilwell sends message to ailing Chelsea strikers exposed by damning stat

Chelsea’s strikers have been told to up their game by Ben Chilwell after the defeat to Nottingham Forest.

Mauricio Pochettino’s side suffered the shock 1-0 loss on Saturday despite dominating the statistics, with 76 per cent of possession and 21 shots on goal to Forest’s seven.

Yet it was Anthony Elanga who proved the matchwinner as Chelsea forward Nicolas Jackson came in for particular criticism, along with several of his teammates.

“We are moving in the right direction,” Chilwell assured fans. “Every game we have controlled possession and the majority of matches we have played well.

“We need to finish chances, be more ruthless and stay composed to get back into games.

“That's the final bit, finishing our chances. If you look at the stats we dominated the game, had the possession, but the most important stat is the goals.

“We lost in that department and lost the game, that is the black and white of it.”

Chilwell has been moved to left wing in a 4-2-3-1 formation of late, in a ploy by Pochettino that has failed to improve their form.

No Chelsea player fired off more shots than Jackson’s four on Saturday, a number matched by Enzo Fernandez with three for Raheem Sterling and two for Chilwell.

Pochettino was keen to divert criticism away from Jackson after the match, with the 22-year-old likely only starting up top so early in his Stamford Bridge career due to Christopher Nkunku’s injury.

He said: “I think in the future we will be talking differently. He needs time to adapt to the Premier League. He is doing a fantastic job but scoring is not easy.

“He is a little bit rushed in his decisions. He needs to be a little bit more calm and relaxed and for sure he is going to score goals.”

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