Hot on the heels of Thursday’s UEFA Conference League quarter-final first leg away at Legia Warsaw – which we won 3-0 thanks to a first Chelsea goal from Tyrique George and a brace from Noni Madueke, we are back in Premier League action this Sunday as Ipswich Town visit Stamford Bridge.

Among the players Maresca can count on for that fixture is Jackson, who started in our victory over Tottenham Hotspur, was introduced off the bench against Brentford, and was an unused substitute in the Polish capital.

That careful handling of the 23-year-old's minutes is to try to ensure Jackson will remain available for selection for the rest of the campaign, something Maresca insists is important as we continue in our quest to secure Champions League football for next season and win the UEFA Conference League.

‘We need to manage him because you can see his importance to us,’ explained Maresca.

‘It was harder playing games without him because he is that kind of striker who is always a threat to the opposition’s defensive line, and he is also very aggressive off the ball. With Nico, I think we are a better team, so we are going to try to manage him until the end.’

The striker’s return to fitness has been welcome as goals in the Premier League have proved harder to come by for the Blues in recent outings, with opponents sitting deep in numbers and making it tough for us to break them down.

That was the case in our last Premier League fixture, and resulted in a 0-0 draw at Brentford. Yet Maresca insists that if we continue to craft chances, the goals will follow.

'Overall, this season, we have created enough,’ he continued. ‘It's just a matter of scoring the goals.

‘Sometimes you have to score goals from outside the box, because teams defend the box very well. Brentford, for most of the game, had 11 players inside the box, so it’s difficult to find space and solutions.

‘We tried with many players – Pedro Neto, Cole Palmer, Enzo Fernandez – and all of them were close. Unfortunately, we didn’t score. I am more worried when we don’t create. When we create, we will score goals.’

Despite those challenges, the Blues have been in good form over the past month, meaning we go into this weekend fourth in the Premier League table, a position which would ensure Champions League football for next season.

That leaves Maresca confident the Blues can finish the season strongly to achieve our goal of a return to Europe’s top club competition.

‘In terms of results, in the last five games we won three, drew one, and lost one,’ the Italian concluded. ‘Overall, many clubs are all in the same position at this moment. It’s a big fight to be there in the Champions League positions. Hopefully we can be there until the end and achieve that.’

‘I am very confident because, first of all, I look at the reality, and all season we have been in the top four. For part of the season, we were second for many weeks.

‘So I am confident. We have seven games to go and hopefully we can finish where we are [in the Champions League places].’