How Chelsea are a different animal with Nicolas Jackson in the team – and why they desperately need their agent of chaos to stay fit, writes KIERAN GILL

While Chelsea’s players had already retreated to their changing room with 15 minutes until kick-off, Tottenham’s starting back four were still on the pitch warming up.

Djed Spence, Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Destiny Udogie were lined up in formation from right to left, practising how they should handle balls in behind. They had a Spurs coach with them playing passes over the top, one after another, as they tried to hold their offside line together.

The visitors knew what was coming, given Chelsea’s agent of chaos was back leading the line in Nicolas Jackson. He did not get a goal on his return from a hamstring injury which had seen him miss the last two months. He did play an unsung part in Chelsea’s opener, however, as Van de Ven was so preoccupied by his presence that Enzo Fernandez was left all on his own to head in.

But even without scoring himself, Jackson showed why he can be such a demon for defenders, from his relentless running to holding up the ball to spraying wide to the wingers.

Chelsea are so much more threatening with Jackson, a different animal. They know it, and their opponents do, too, hence why that Tottenham drill was still ongoing until as late as 7.45pm. By 8.01pm, we had already seen the away side troubled by a ball in behind.

Trevoh Chalobah launched it long from deep for Jackson to chase in between Romero and Van de Ven, who were starting together in the Premier League for the first time since Tottenham last played Chelsea in December. The striker got to it before the defenders, and probably should have done better with what came next. Maybe with a little less rustiness after so long on the sidelines, he would have, as Jackson sent his initial attempt into Spurs goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario before Van de Ven’s clearance came back off Chelsea’s striker to send the ball into the post.

Jackson was Chelsea’s agent of chaos as he caused problems for the Tottenham defence

The striker celebrates with Enzo Fernandez after he scored the only goal in Chelsea’s 1-0 win

But this was no isolated incident as it happened several times, Chelsea sending balls in behind and Tottenham sprinting to try to stop a steam train in Jackson. It became increasingly apparent as the game progressed that Romero was struggling to handle him in particular.

Chelsea need Jackson for their run-in, which is among the more challenging when compared to their Champions League-chasing rivals. Their last two months without a single recognised senior striker had seen them struggle to threaten, let alone score in order to win.

At least with Jackson now fit again, they have that presence up top.