Chelsea boss Maresca supports Jackson following altercation at Forest: 'Someone attempted to kick me,' claims manager

During a late scuffle that erupted when Maresca was hit after Neco Williams shoved Blues fullback Marc Cucurella into him, Jackson was caught pushing Forest defender Morato in the face.

The manager later said, "In that moment, I think not only Nicolas was inside the pitch. If you look, more players from the bench were inside the pitch. I don't see that kind of things. If you ask me if I prefer when something like that happens, players from outside involved or not, I like the spirit of the team. I like the spirit of our team. I don’t see any problem.

"Someone tried to kick me there. When I fell down, I was there like this, and someone arrived. For sure, there are things that we can control and do better, for sure no doubt, and probably this is one of the things. But if you ask me about the team spirit, the way they are fighting together, the way they are doing things together, I’m very happy."

He added: "I was just there. In my area. This is the most important thing. If these kinds of things happen when you’re not in your area, probably people can say, 'He was not where he should be'. At least I was in my area. It can happen. I’m OK, thank you."