Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca makes feelings perfectly clear after Nicolas Jackson red card

Enzo Maresca will have crunch talks with Nicolas Jackson after in the first half of defeat at St James’ Park. After a VAR intervention, Jackson was sent off for flooring Sven Botman with his arm and elbow when Maresca’s men were trailing to an early Sandro Tonali goal.

late in a second half dominated by , leaving Maresca to rue Jackson’s moment of madness. The Chelsea manager said: “In the next day, we are going to speak to Nico.

"He is our number nine and his season is now finished. You have to avoid this kind of thing. In the future, hopefully he can learn from this.”

Jackson was originally shown a yellow card by referee John Brooks and Maresca refused to be drawn on . He would only say: “If the ref decides it is a red card, we have to accept that. But for other fouls, there was the noise of the stadium (as a factor).”

It now looks as though Chelsea will have to win both of their remaining fixtures to qualify for the but should be able to make it with just one win from their two games. And a relieved Eddie Howe hailed as one of the heroes of a hard-fought win, the Newcastle keeper making a couple of superb stops as Chelsea controlled the second half.

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The Newcastle manager, who insisted that Jackson’s red card WAS deserved, said: “Nick made two world-class saves. We were indebted to him. They were magnificent saves - you cannot overlook that.

“That was a massive win for us. We knew the importance of the game and we got over the line. It is still very tight and we need to keep our focus for two more games.”

And Maresca knows exactly what his Chelsea have to do, saying: “We have to find a solution and we have to win both our games.”

Next up for Chelsea is a match against . The game has been brought forward to Friday night, and Maresca will need to decide who to start in attack in place of the suspended Jackson.

After that, Maresca's team will conclude their campaign with a trip to . Nuno's Forest also remain in contention for Champions League qualification, but missed out on a chance to move into the top five when they were held at home by relegated on Sunday.

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