Martin Keown says Chelsea have a ‘feared’ player who is a big threat to Manchester United – it’s not Cole Palmer

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Chelsea are just over 24 hours away from an intriguing match against rivals Manchester United in the Premier League.

Chelsea travel to Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon to face Man United in a league showdown.

The Blues go into this weekend sitting fifth in the Premier League table. Interestingly, Chelsea were tipped by Opta to finish fourth a few weeks ago.

Meanwhile, Man United, who have Ruud van Nistelrooy in charge as their interim manager, desperately need a result to lift them from 14th spot in the league table.

• READ MORE: £32m Chelsea star is everything Manchester United duo are not ahead of Sunday showdown

Martin Keown highlights Nicolas Jackson threat ahead of Manchester United vs Chelsea

According to Martin Keown, Man United need to be wary of leaving space for Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson in the weekend’s match.

Keown wrote in The Daily Mail: “One decision Van Nistelrooy needs to nail is who starts in central defence, as Nicolas Jackson is fast becoming one of the Premier League’s most feared strikers. Nobody has made more sprints than Chelsea’s forward this season and he will happily eat up any space behind United’s backline, knowing full well that Cole Palmer can find him.”

Newcastle defender Dan Burn shared the difficulty of facing Chelsea’s Jackson recently, especially because of how sharp he is.

As Keown mentions above, Van Nistelrooy has a big decision to make with Man United’s starting centre-halves tomorrow. Any combination of Jonny Evans, Matthijs de Ligt or Victor Lindelof in the heart of defence could really struggle with the Chelsea frontman.

With Cole Palmer pulling the strings from the number 10 position, Chelsea’s attackers know they’re likely to be found with runs in behind.

Nicolas Jackson struggled against Manchester United last season

While Jackson goes into this weekend in great form and confidence, perhaps in the back of his mind is the fact that he struggled to make his mark versus Man United last season.

In the striker’s two appearances against them, he failed to score or assist during 180 minutes of football. Alan Shearer even criticised Chelsea star Jackson for a performance at Man United last year.

As seen above, Jackson is clearly enjoying his football this season and regularly impacting matches in a positive way for Chelsea. These high-profile games against Man United are where the elite centre-forwards need to succeed, though.