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Key events
45+3 min: Nottingham Forest substitution: Neco Williams on for Zach Abbott, who the Forest physios have clearly decided is not fit to continue. A wise move and it’s a concussion substitution, so they’ll be allowed to use an extra sub later in the game, should they need to. Meanwhile in the Chelsea penalty area, Jesse Derry continues to receive medical treatment as players from both teams look on in concern. Fingers crossed for the lad.
45+3 min: On his full debut, Jesse Derry continues to get medical attention after his concerned teammates summoned the physios as soon as he clashed heads with Zach Abbott. The Forest full-back is on his feet, looking a bit groggy. Players from both teams are standing around looking concerned as Derry is tended to by the physios. They’re about to put him on a stretcher and he’ll be replaced by Liam Delap.
PENALTY TO CHELSEA!
45+2 min: Derry and Abbott clash heads as a cross comes in and Anthony Taylor awards Chelsea a penalty. I’m not sure why but for now all the focus is on getting Jesse Derry medical attention. He looks in a bad way but here’s hoping it’s nothing serious.
42 min: Netz fouls Gusto out by the right touchline and Chelsea have a free-kick. Fernandez’s delivery is good but Morato heads it away. Chelsea recycle the ball and Bakwa and Gusto go down in a tangle of limbs in the Forest penalty area. Bakwa was all over the Chelsea full-back, hauling him to the ground, but VAR elect not to intervene for reasons best known to themselves.
40 min: Joao Pedro goes to ground in the Forest penalty area under a non-challenge from Yates. His cheeky appeal for a penalty falls on deaf ears and he’s lucky not to get booked for simulation.
38 min: Joao Pedro runs the ball out of play as he tries to get the better of Luca Netz out by the right touchline. This is dismal fare from Chelsea, who look so disjointed. Their fans are not happy and who can blame them? What passes for their club is being run into the ground by owners who are, let’s not forget, in the middle of “an extensive period of self-reflection” after sacking Liam Rosenior. I wonder how that’s going for them because I wouldn’t imagine self-reflection is their forte.
37 min: James McAtee runs on to a pass towards the edge of the Chelsea penalty area but his first-time shot is deflected out for a goal-kick off his teammate Morato, who is unable to get out of the way.
35 min: Chelsea have a penalty claim for a Morato handball turned down and soon after, Derry sends a weak shot through a defender’s legs and into the warm embrace of Matz Sels.
30 min: There’s a break in play as Derry recevies treatment after being caught by a stray Yates arm in the penalty area. I’m not sure there was any malice aforethought but I’d need to see it again. It seems Derry got a finger in the eye and lost a contact lens. Younger readers won’t believe this but back in the days before cheap disposable lenses, play would have to be stopped so all 22 players and the match officials could get down on their hands and knees to look for the misplaced contact.
28 min: Forest’s makeshift defence is performing extremely well and while it’s too early to sauggest Chelsea have run out of ideas, assorted home players are passing the ball backwards far more often than those who have paid to watch them would like.
27 min: Derry j9inks and shimmies into the Forest penalty area with the ball at his feet but runs into a stout wall of red resistance in the form of Ryan Yates. Thou shalt not pass!
26 min: Jesse Derry connects with a Malo Gusto cross from the right and tries his luck with an acrobatic scissors-kick. Over the bar. If that had gone in he ought to have announced his immediate retirement because he’d have been unlikely to top that.
24 min: Moises Caicedo gifts possession to Forest with a loose pass but Chelsea soon have the ball back. Seconds later, Caicedo gives the ball away again.
22 min: The ball slips out of Netz’s hands as he tried to take a throw-in and the upshot is that Chelsea win cheap possession and then a corner. Nothing comes of it.
21 min: Jesse Derry is up against the similarly inexperienced Zach Abbott this afternoon. A central defender by trade, the 19-year-old is being deployed at right-back by Vitor Pereira today.
19 min: Derry gets on the ball again and elects to pass it inside so Chelsea can switch play to the right wing. Forest win a free-kick a few yards outside their own penalty area when Joao Pedro catches Nico Dominguez with a late challenge.
18 min: Out on the right flank, Cole Palmer cuts inside Luca Netz and tries to curl a shot into the top left-hand corner. He doesn’t get enough bend on his shot and sends the ball well wide of Matz Sels’s goal.
16 min: This has been an outstanding start for Forest and Vitor Pereira’s questionable selection policy is looking entirely justified. Chelsea are a mess early doors.
GOAL! Chelsea 0-2 Nottingham Forest (Jesus 15pen)
Igor Jesus doubles Forest’s lead! The Brazilian makes no mistake from the spot and Forest are 2-0 up after 15 minutes.
Penalty for Nottingham Forest!
14 min: It’s a penalty for Forest and a yellow card for Malo Gusto. Chelsea can have no complaints. That was a dumb foul to commit.
12 min: Awoniyi goes down in the Chelsea penalty area looking for a penalty. There was a definite shirt-pull by Malo Gusto as the goalscorerer tried to get on the end of another Bakwa delivery and VAR will take a look. Anthony Taylor is going to his pitchside monitor and you’d presume this will be a penalty.
11 min: Enzo Fernades has another strike on goal, this time from open play but sends this effort against the foot of the upright. It’s been a livelty start.
10 min: Moarato doesn’t avoid a yellow card for hauling Joao Pedro to ground as the Brazilian advanced on the Forest penalty area. Free-kick for Chelsea in a good position. Awoniyi heads Enzo Fernandez’s free-kick away.
8 min: Marc Cucurella exacts a measure of revenge on Bakwa, clattering into the back of the Forest winger and sending him to ground with a roar of agony. The Chelsea full-back concedes a free-kick but avoids a yellow card.
7 min: Sporting the No55 on his back, Jesse Derry gets on the ball and lays it off to Enzo Fernandez. He tries to curl it into the path of a Cole Palmer run but overhits his pass and sends the ball wide.
5 min: Making his full Premier League debut, Forest right-back Luca Netz gets on the ball as Forest go in search of a second goal.
4 min: Awoniyi’s goal came on 98 seconds and has stunned Stamford Bridge into silence. Dilane Bakwa stictched Marc Cucurella up like a kipper before sending in his cross and Awoniyi had a free header which he placed in the top corner.
GOAL! Chelsea 0-1 Nottingham Forest (Awoniyi 2)
Forest lead! Taiwo Awoniyi puts Forest ahead, leaping unmarked at the far post to nod a Dilane Bakwa cross from the byline past Robert Sanchez.
1 min: Forest win an early throw-in deep in Chelsea territory, the ball going out of play off Marc Cucurella. Zach Abbott takes responsibility, starting just his second senior game.
Chelsea v Nottingham Forest is go …
1 min: Nottingham Forest get the ball rolling, playing it straight back to Matz Sels. He passes it back upfield.
Not long now: The teams are out on the Stamford Bridge pitch and going through the last of the pre-match formalities. Kick-off is just a couple of minutes away.
Chelsea: Currently on a run of five Premier League defeats without scoring, the hosts will set an unwanted club record if they lose without finding the back of the net this afternoon.
Calum McFarlane: “It’s a great opportunity for Jesse,” says Chelsea’s interim head coach of his decision to hand young Master Derry his full debut. “He’s training with us a lot, he’s been in squads, he’s played in other games. We trust him, we know his talent because I’ve worked with him previously. The boys trust him, he’s trained really well so I’m really excited for Jesse.” McFarlane goes on to tell Sky Sports that both Pedro Neto and Alejandro Garnacho are sidelined with knocks that aren’t serious.
Vitor Pereira: In a pre-match interview with Sky Sports, the Forest manager is asked about his team selection and the potential risks involved in resting so many first-team regulars. “They need to show, to prove in this moment that they are ready to help the team,” he says of the players he has picked. “I truly believe we can do a competitive game and we can fight for the points.”
Unai Emery adopted the same approach with the Aston Villa team he picked to face Tottenham Hotspur yesterday and if he believed his largely second-string side could be competitive he was quickly disabused of the notion as they stank Villa Park out with an embarrassing performance that seems to have prompted far more upset among West Ham’s fans than those of the Villa.
Today’s match officials
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Referee: Anthony Taylor
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Referee assistants: Gary Beswick and Adam Nunn
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Fourth official: Michael Salisbury
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VAR: James Bell
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Assistant VAR: Dan Robathan
Chelsea: Having recently returned from a club-imposed two-match ban for telling reporters how much he’d like to live in Madrid, Enzo Fernandes only went and spent his three days off this week in the Spanish capital watching tennis with his teammates Marc Cucurella and Joao Pedro.
“It says a lot about the group that they go away together,” said McFarlane. “I love that they spend time together. They went to Madrid to watch tennis, I don’t see an issue. It’s a positive sign for the unity of the group.”
On his own role as interim head coach of a team that has lost five consecutive Premier League matches without scoring a goal before his appointment, McFarlane hd this to say: “I’ve been involved at games at Stamford Bridge as assistant and support staff but there might be a different feel leading the team and it will be a great honour in front of the Chelsea fans. Really looking forward to it and hoping we can put in a similar level of performance as we did at Wembley.”
Nottingham Forest: “I will try to think just about the Chelsea game because it’s our Champions League,” said Vitor Pereira when asked about this match being sandwiched between both legs of a Europa League semi-final. “It’s very important for us and we will try to go there to compete with the players. I prefer a fit player without injury problems, than someone that goes inside the pitch with problems, because with problems, we cannot give 100% and in this moment we need to run and fight.”
Jesse Derry: Maybe it’s just his hairstyle but Jesse Derry reminds me of Jamie Tartt, star player of AFC Richmond in the comedy series Ted Lasso. Unlike Jamie, he seems unlikely to take a sabbatical from football so he can appear on a Reality TV Show. If he’s as good and unselfish a player as Tartt in his series three pomp, Chelsea fans are in for a treat.
Pre-match listening: Myself, Barney Ronay and Jonathan Wilson were up with the lark to join Max Rushden and pick over the bones of the weekend action in the latest episode of our Football Weekly podcast. Warning: may contain middle-aged men bickering and one extremely laboured tea analogy.
Those teams: Vitor Pereira has channeled his inner Unai Emery and made eight changes to the side that beat Aston Villa on Thursday night. Morato, Nico Dominguez and Igor Jesus are the only survivors as a host of first team regulars drop to the bench for a rest.
It’s a risky strategy that may prove to have backfired come season’s end, but Pereira clearly feels his players have enough about them to pick up the points they need to avoid relegation in their remaining games, even if they lose today. And let’s face it, given they are playing Chelsea-in-freefall, there’s every chance Forest won’t lose today.
With Pedro Neto and Alejandro both absent from the home squad, Jesse Derry comes into the Chelsea side to make his full senior debut. The 18-year-old winger is the son of Shaun Derry, the former Notts County, Crystal Palace and QPR legend. As expected, Reece James and Levi Colwill are on the Chelsea bench.
Chelsea v Nottingham Forest line-ups
Chelsea: Sanchez, Gusto, Chalobah, Tosin, Cucurella, Caicedo, Lavia, Palmer, Derry, Fernandez, Joao Pedro.
Subs: Jorgensen, Acheampong, Colwill, Fofana, James, Hato, Santos, Essugo, Delap.
Nottingham Forest: Sels, Abbott, Morato, Jair Cunha, Netz, Yates, McAtee, Dominguez, Bakwa, Igor Jesus, Awoniyi.
Subs: Ortega, Williams, Anderson, Gibbs-White, Wood, Da Silva Moreira, Lucca, Hutchinson, Milenkovic.
Early team news
Filip Jorgensen, Estavao Willian and Jamie Gittens remain sidelined but Chelsea could welcome Reece James and Levi Colwill back into their matchday squad. Colwill is back from an ACL he suffered in pre-season and has not played since the Club World Cup final. “When someone’s had an injury for that long, you have to be patient,” said Calum McFarlane. “We just need to manage his minutes, not push him too much. We don’t want to risk re‑injuring him, but he looks brilliant and he is in a really good place.”
Forest right-back Ola Aina limped out of Thursday night’s Europa League semi-final against Aston Villa but may return this afternoon. At his pre-match press conference, Vitor Pereira was unable to offer updates on the fitness of Dan Ndoye, Ibrahim Sangare, Jair Cunha and Murillo. Callum Hudson-Odoi, Nicolo Savona, John Victor and Willy Boly are definitely out.
Premier League: Chelsea v Nottingham Forest
Stamford Bridge hosts a high-stakes Bank Holiday clash between two sides suffering different end-of-season anxieties. Chelsea have an imminent FA Cup final to focus on but must win today to end a remarkable five-match Premier League losing streak to keep their already slim hopes of playing Champions League football next season alive.
Dragged back into a relegation battle they hoped they’d escaped, Nottingham Forest currently find themselves between two legs of a Europa League semi-final against Aston Villa. While the lights of Villa Park beckon for Thursday’s second leg, Forest cannot afford to take things easy this afternoon. Kick-off is at 3pm (BST) but we’ll have team news and build-up in the meantime.
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