‘Loves running in behind’ – Chilwell likens ‘threatening’ Chelsea forward to explosive Prem winner

Ben Chilwell has revealed he sees shades of Jamie Vardy in new Chelsea attacker Nicolas Jackson, as the £32million signing “loves running in behind”.

As with last season, this summer has seen a lot of moves take place at Stamford Bridge. They’ve so far spent nearly £200million – and recouped around £220million – with some moves still in the works.

They have spent money on six new signings, including forward stars Christopher Nkunku and Jackson. The pair shared the no.9 role in pre-season, but with the former injured, it’s likely Jackson will begin the season up top.

Blues defender Chilwell feels the former Villarreal man’s attributes will be a bonus for Chelsea’s side, and they remind him of his former teammate, Jamie Vardy.

“Personally it’s a very different kind of centre-forward to a lot of centre-forwards you see nowadays, in a positive way,” Chilwell told talkSPORT.

“It’s a nice surprise in a way to see a no.9 that loves running in behind, it kind of takes me back to when I was at Leicester with Vards.”

It’s a big compliment for Chilwell to see similar assets in Jackson as a Premier League winner, who is one of the most explosive forwards the league has seen.

The defender feels Jackson will be a major threat to Premier League defences, and his pace can cause a lot of problems.

“It’s definitely a strong attribute to have when you can do that and do that in a very threatening way,” Chilwell added.

“So, hopefully we can all give him the service that he needs and the service that I’m sure he will get when he’s got pace like that and wants to get in behind defences.”

Chelsea having the assets to be more direct in attack should serve them well this season. They scored just 38 goals in a 38-game Premier League season last term.

As such, there was clearly a need to change something in the side, and having pace to get in behind and really cause problems for defenders could well be what was needed.

That they didn’t lose a game in pre-season suggests the Blues might have struck the right balance, but that’ll become more clear when the competitive games start.

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