Jackson's red card leaves Chelsea without a striker, despite £1bn spending - ESPN

NEWCASTLE, England — Chelsea have two games to make their £1 billion transfer gamble pay off, and they will have to do it without a striker.

Whether the club's scattergun recruitment or Nicolas Jackson's red card for serious foul play in the 2-0 defeat at Newcastle are most to blame for their predicament is debatable but, either way, Chelsea's hopes of qualifying for the UEFA Champions League are on a knife-edge because they won't have a striker in their two most crucial games of the season.

A recent Premier League revival that saw Enzo Maresca's team win three successive league games had seen Chelsea climb back into the top five ahead of Sunday's clash with Newcastle at St James' Park. But the margin for error for the six teams — Newcastle, Manchester City, Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa, Chelsea, and also second-place Arsenal — aiming to secure the four remaining Champions League spots behind champions Liverpool is so thin for each team that any slip at this stage of run-in could wreck their hopes.

Jackson's moment of recklessness in the first half, when he struck Newcastle defender Sven Botman in the face with his right elbow, led to the 23-year-old being shown a red card by referee John Brooks after VAR official Darren England called for a review after the initial award of a yellow card.

By that stage, Chelsea were already 1-0 down after Sandro Tonali's second-minute opener for Newcastle, who matched Brentford's record of four goals inside the opening two minutes of this season. But, with 35 minutes on the clock and Jackon walking down the tunnel, their chances of claiming at least a point were hugely compromised without their only fit and available striker.

«I haven't spoken to Nico, it's not the time,» coach Enzo