Nicolas Jackson needs to be ‘braver’, insists Ally McCoist as struggling Chelsea striker squanders huge goal chance against Arsenal

Ally McCoist has criticized Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson for not being “brave” enough during Tuesday’s derby against Arsenal at the Emirates.

Jackson was handed the task of being Chelsea’s main source of goals – in the absence of Cole Palmer who missed the match through illness – and missed a huge scoring chance.

The 22-year-old endured a tough weekend of missed chances in Chelsea’s FA Cup semi-final defeat to Man City and his struggles continued against Arsenal.

Jackson had the opportunity to connect with a point-blank header in the first half, but ended up squandering the opportunity by losing track of the ball while it was in the air.

The Chelsea star appeared to close his eyes as he tried to hit the cross and saw the effort dwindle as the ball hit his hand next to his face.

Jackson missed an attempt with a close-range header against Arsenal in the first half

McCoist questioned why Jackson failed to make contact with his header against Arsenal

Scottish football legend McCoist was left stunned by Jackson’s misguided attempt and told the former Villarreal striker to be “braveer”.

“Jackson puts his hands up for some reason. I have no idea,” McCoist said on TNT Sports.

“You need to be braver. I can tell you right now, you need to be braver.

“An old-fashioned centre-forward runs that,” McCoist added as Arsenal took control of the match again.

Arsenal took advantage of Chelsea’s struggles in front of goal as Leandro Trossard opened the scoring in the first half with a well-taken finish.

Goals from former Chelsea playmaker Kai Havertz and Ben White allowed Arsenal to exert more control over proceedings.