Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino says he's delighted with the progress of Nicolas Jackson.

Jackson has been hammered over the past week after a profligate performance in the FA Cup semifinal defeat against Manchester City and his penalty antics in the thrashing of Everton.

Pochettino, ahead of tomorrow's clash with Arsenal, said: "First season is always difficult for all the players, especially when you are a striker and need to perform and score goals.

"Everyone expects you to score a goal with every touch. He is our main striker, the only striker that we have fit because [Christopher] Nkunku nearly didn't play the whole season, [Armando] Broja also then moved to Fulham because he wanted to play more.

"[Jackson] is doing fantastic, he's doing an amazing job for the team, running, scoring goals and giving assists. He's a young guy coming from Spain and he's done fantastic.

"If we compare with [Didier] Drogba, yes, he is always going to lose. We need to split the history of the club with the performance of Jackson.

"He has all my support because even if he doesn't always score, the way he is fighting for the club and his team-mates... he is going to be better next season, no doubt. He just needs to keep going."

On Thiago Silva's future, he added: "He was saying after [the FA Cup semi-final] that now is not the time to talk.

"When he wants to communicate some things, he will and for sure the club will communicate the situation.

"So far we were not talking, we were in the semi-final of the FA Cup and now are trying to finish high up the league table."