Chelsea will look to snap a three-match losing streak on Tuesday night when they host rock-bottom Southampton at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues followed up their FA Cup exit to Brighton earlier this month with another defeat to the Seagulls in the Premier League before suffering a 2-1 loss at Aston Villa at the weekend.
This has seen Chelsea lose momentum in the race for the top four, with Enzo Maresca’s side now sitting seventh in the table, but only a point off fourth-placed Manchester City.
Will Nicolas Jackson be available on Tuesday for Chelsea?
Chelsea have had to make do without forward Nicolas Jackson during this three-match losing streak, after the Senegal international limped off during the second half of the 2-1 win over West Ham earlier this month.
Jackson has been a key player for Maresca this season as the focal point of the Chelsea attack, starting all but one of the club’s Premier League matches before being laid low with this current injury.
Maresca, who ranked at no.44 in FourFourTwo's list of the best managers in the world right now, gave an update on the 23-year-old last week and confirmed that Jackson would miss between six and eight weeks with his current injury.
"Nico will be out until the international break and probably available after the international break," he said.
"We knew it was a muscular problem but we didn't know how important it was because of his reaction. We all thought it was not a big injury, but unfortunately, he had a scan and it will be around six to eight weeks."
The forward will therefore miss out against Southampton this week and Maresca will need to find a replacement in his squad that is carrying a number of injuries in the attacking areas.
Forward Marc Guiu is also out with a hamstring problem, with Christopher Nkunku filling in up front in the FA Cup defeat to Brighton.
The likes of Noni Madueke, Romeo Lavia, Wesley Fofana, Benoit Badiashile, Omari Kellyman and Trevoh Chalobah are also currently out injured, while Mykhailo Mudryk remains suspended.
