Nkunku netted a hat-trick during Tuesday's 5-0 League Cup victory over Barrow, which added to his winner off the bench at Bournemouth 10 days earlier. Jackson, meanwhile, struck twice in our victory over West Ham United at the weekend and has netted four goals in as many Premier League matches this term.

Their respective form gives Maresca a difficult decision to make ahead of the visit of Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday. It is a situation the Blues boss welcomes, although he is wary of trying to fit too many of his in-form attackers into the starting XI.

He said: ‘Both Nicolas and Christo are doing fantastic, not only because they are scoring but in the way they work off the ball and sacrifice for the team. That is very important for both of them.

‘It’s a nice problem when you have two strikers who continue to score. Unfortunately, Marc Guiu is not scoring at this moment but hopefully soon he can score goals as well.

‘When you can decide which one to start with, it's nice. And because they are in a good moment we can use them both.

‘It could be they play together. The problem is our defensive balance because we can think of playing with Nicolas, Christo, Joao [Felix], Cole [Palmer] and Noni [Madueke] – that's fantastic – but then who is defending? Me?

‘I would like to put all of them in because I really like football and I really like to keep the ball. The problem is when you lose the ball and need to defend, and not all of them can defend at the same level.’

Maresca also explained the thinking behind his unorthodox use of the Chelsea full-backs, who often underlap to add an extra body in midfield but can also hug the touchline to provide width when required.

That was demonstrated against Barrow with Malo Gusto, who claimed an assist for Nkunku's second goal on his return to the team, and then Ben Chilwell, who replaced the Frenchman at half-time for his first appearance of the season, frequently roaming from the traditional full-back role.

Maresca said: ‘Chilly did very well. It was not easy for him because he did not get any minutes this season. He showed that he’s there, he’s ready, he’s working well. There is not any problem and if we have a chance we will give him some more minutes and games.

‘In the first half, we played with Malo going inside and in the second half we did the same but on the left side with Chilly. That change was planned.

‘We try to prepare the game depending on how the other team is defending or attacking. We try to find solutions. Today, in the first half with Malo and the second half with Chilly, they were playing like attacking midfielders on the ball.

‘It’s to create in some areas of the pitch an overload of players so the guy on the ball has more options to pass, not just one. Then he can pick one of the options that he has. The aim is to give them more solutions and then they decide.’