Key events
Half-time: Nottingham Forest 1-1 Chelsea
Peep! The ref blows for the break and the players troupe off with the scores level. Mykhailo Mudryk opened the scoring for Chelsea after latching on to a wonderful through ball from Cole Palmer, only for Willy Boly to head home an equaliser for Forest after being given the freedom of the Chelsea penalty area at a free-kick. Forest won’t be going down this season but as things stand, the are on course to win the point they need to save their own skins at the expens of Luton’s.
45+3 min: Forest put the ball out of play after Nony Madueke goes to ground hurt following a coming-together with Ryan Yates. There doesn’t seem much wrong with him and play quickly resumes.
45+1 min: Murillo robs Cucurella of possesion halfway inside the Forest half and advances upfield. He picks out Callum Hudson-Odoi with a ball forward but his shot is blocked by Thiago Silva. The ball spins up in the air and drops from a height – shooting on the follow-up, Wood’s volley from the edge of the area is on target but weak and straight at Petrovic.
43 min: Ola Aina bundles Nicolas Jackson to the ground as the ball comes in from a Chelsea corner. The Chelsea striker appeals for a penalty but doesn’t get one. He probably should have, you know, even though he wasn’t anywhere near the ball.
41 min: There’s a break in play as Ryan Yates receives treatment for a nasty gash on his ankle. Montiel appeared to be the perpetrator but I don’t think he did it intentionally. I’ll need to see it again.
40 min: Forest free-kick. Morgan Gibbs-White picks out Wily Boly Boly at the far post and the goalscorer gets his head to the ball again. Benoit Badiashile clears off the line.
39 min: Chelsea free-kick wide on the right, just about within shooting range. Cole Palmer and Conor Gallagher stand over the ball and it’s the latter who takes it. His delivery into the box is headed clear.
37 min: Palmer tries to advance in to the Nottingham Forest penalty area but is dispossessed by Willy Boly, who takes the ball off his toe.
34 min: Callum Hudson-Odoi is played in behind the Chelsea defence with Forest breaking upfield on the counter-attack. Conor Gallagher bnundles him over and as one, the occupants of the City Ground appeal for a red card. They have to settle for a yellow as the presence of Marc Cucurella meant Gallagher did not deny Hudson-Odoi a clear goalscoring opportunity.
33 min: Palmer unlocks the Forest defence with another exquisite through ball that’s perfectly weighted. It’s on a plate for Nicolas Jackson, but Matz Sels is quick off his line to deny the Chelsea striker.
31 min: Perhaps mindful of the shove that went unpunished earlier, Marc Cucurella “accidentally” clatters into the back of Ryan Yates, hurting the Forest midfielder in the process. That gently simmering feud between the duo is one to keep an eye on.
29 min: Marc Cucurella and Nicpolas Jackson combine on the edge of the Forest penalty area but the Spanish defender runs into a stout wall of red resisitance and loses the ball.
27 min: Thiago Silva gets on the ball in what is almost certainly his penultimate game for Chelsea. At the age of 39 he’s moving back home to Brazil, where he will play for Fluminense next season.
26 min: Chelsea build from the back with Marc Cucurella the main instigator. He’s unceremoniously shoved to the ground by Ryan Yates but doesn’t get a free-kick.
23 min: Petrovic comes for Danilo’s inswinger but can only flap the ball in the direction of Chris Wood, who steers his header over the gaping goal. We’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and say he was unsighted by a defender standing in his way but he probably should have scored.
22 min: Callum Hudson-Odoi cuts in from the left and tees up Ryan Yates. His shot high over the bar takes a nick off a defender and Forest win a corner.
19 min: Chris Wood gets on the end of an Ola Aina ball from deep at the far post but his header across the face of goal is intercepted by Badiashile. The flag goes up as Wood was offside.
The goal stands! The City Ground erupts for a second time as VAR John Brooks gives his colleague Tony Harrington the all-clear to award the goal. It was tight but Willy Boly was played onside by Badiashile as the ball was sent into the penalty area.
GOAL! Nottingham Forest 1-1 Chelsea (Boly 15)
Forest equalise! Morgan Gibbs-White sends the free-kick into the Chelsea penalty area, where Willy Boly had held his run before heading home unmarked from about six ards. His header goes in off Conor Gallagher but there’s a VAR Check for offside.
15 min: Benoit Badiashile is booked for a trip on Murillo as the Forest defendder bore down on the Chelsea penalty area. Free-kick for Forest … and they’ve scored.
13 min: Cole Palmer’s perfectly weighted through ball in the build-up to Chelsea’s opener looks more and more exquisite with each replay. What a wonderful signing he has been for Chelsea and who knows how far down the table they would be without him?
12 min: A Nicolas Jackson pull-back through the legs of Murillo fails to pick out a Chelsea player and Forest clear their lines from the edge of the six-yard box.
10 min: Ryan Yates scored his first Premier League goal last weekend and looks hell bent on getting his second one today. On this occasion he shoots high over the bar after pouncing on a loose ball from Marc Cucurella.
Goal! Nottingham Forest 0-1 Chelsea (Mudryk 7)
Chelsea lead! Mykhailo Mudryk scores his fifth goal oif the campaign and it’s a beauty created by Cole Palmer, who threaded the ball through the eye of a needle, taking out the entire Forest defence. The Ukrainian runs in behind from the left and strokes the ball into the far corner.
7 min: Forest win a throw-in deep in Chelsea territory and Ola Aina Delaps the ball towards Ryan Yates at the far post. It’s an astonishing throw-in but the midfielder is unable to steer his header on target.
5 min: Gonzalo Montiel canters down the right flank and tries to pick out Wood with a cross to the near post. Thiago Silva stoops to intercept with his head.
4 min: Once a shining star of the Chelsea youth academy only to be let go by the club, Nottingham Forest winger Callum Hudson-Odoi is making his 100th Premier League appearance today.
2 min: Ola Aina pings the ball forward from deep for Chris Wood to chase. He gets to it on the edge of the penalty area, beating Benoit Badiashile for pace and tries to lob the ball over the onrushing Djordje Petrovic. The Chelsea goalkeeper spots the Kiwi’s intention and catches the ball before it sails over his head.
Chelsea v Nottingham Forest is go …
1 min: Conor Gallagher gets the ball rolling for Chelsea and there’s a party atmosphere at the City Ground, where the fans have been buoyed by the news of Burnley and Luton’s defeats earlier this afternoon.
Not long now: Referee Tony Harrington and his team of match officials lead out both sets of players for a game that is now far less significant than it could have been. A win for Chelsea will take them level on points with sixth-placed Newcastle but leave them behind Eddie Howe’s team on goal difference. Of courser, if thery can win 11-0 they would go above Newcastle while significantly improving Luton’s hopes of staying up.
Forest are safe: Burnley’s defeat at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium means they are relegated with Sheffield United, while Luton’s loss at West Ham means they are also effectively down.
Nottingham Forest will officially send them back to the Championship if they get a point against Chelsea, but so superior is their goal difference that even if they lose their final two games, Luton cannot survive without a miracle to rival that of the loaves and the fishes.
Nottingham Forest v Chelsea line-ups
Nottingham Forest: Sels, Montiel, Boly, Murillo, Niakhate, Aina, Gibbs-White, Yates, Danilo, Hudson-Odoi, Wood.
Subs: Turner, Sangare, Kouyate, Awoniyi, Toffolo, Dominguez, Elanga, Origi, Omobamidele.
Chelsea: Petrovic, Chalobah, Thiago Silva, Badiashile, Cucurella, Caicedo, Gallagher, Madueke, Palmer, Mudryk, Jackson.
Subs: Disasi, Sterling, Bettinelli, Ugochukwu, Nkunku, James, Colwill, Gusto, Casadei.
Today’s match officials
Chelsea: The club’s co-owner Todd Boehly appeared to boost Mauricio Pochettino’s chances of being kept on as manager next season as he praised the “beautiful” football being played by the team.
Chelsea: Mauricio Pochettino has suggested he would walk away from Chelsea if he were unhappy and his end-of-season job review will not only be about whether the club’s owners want to keep him. David Hytner reports …
Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Burnley: Micky van de Ven has put Spurs 2-1 up against Burnley, whose relegation will be confirmed if they do not win this game.
West Ham 3-1 Luton Town: News that George Earthy has come off the West Ham bench to score against Luton Town could prompt the popping of champagne corks in the Nottingham Forest dressing-room. As things stand, they’re all but mathematically safe even if they lose their two remaining matches.
Good news for Forest: Thomas Soucek has just given West Ham a 2-1 lead against Luton, which could make Nottingham Forest’s job tonight a whole lot easier. A point for Forest will officially send Luton and Burnley down with Sheffield United and even if they lose, they will be fine because of a superior goal difference that is as good as a point. That’s as things stand, of course.
Ola Aina interview: The Nottingham Forest defender on being the fastest player in Serie A, happy times at Chelsea’s academy and why he loves the City Ground. Words: Ed Aarons.
Early team news
While Neco Williams remains sidelined with a thigh injury, Willy Boly, Nicolas Dominguez, Taiwo Awoniyi and Murillo all returned from injury to feature in Nottingham Forest’s matchday squad against Sheffield United and all four players spent time on the pitch during that win and could start today. Awoniyi is certainly likely to come in for the misfiring Chris Wood up front.
During his press conference yesterday, Mauricio Pochettino expressed his delight that so many of his lame and halt players have returned to full fitness while simultaneously bemoaning the fact that their recoveries have coincided with the end of the season.
Axel Disasi, Levi Colwell Raheem Sterling, Malo Gusto and Christopher Nkunku all returned to the Chelsea squad for last weekend’s rout of West Ham but Ben Chilwell, Romeo Lavia, Enzo Fernandez, Wesley Fofana and Carney Chukwuemeka all remain sidelined. Reece James is also back in full training after five months out with a serious hamstring injury and the England defender could feature at some point this evening.
Premier League: Nottingham Forest v Chelsea
It’s taken a fair old while but Chelsea arrive at the City Ground having shown signs they’re finally beginning to gel as a team and will be hoping to continue their good form against a Nottingham Forest side that is battling to avoid the drop.
At the time of writing we don’t know exactly what Nuno Espirito Santo’s side need to do to boost their survival hopes but with Luton Town being held at West Ham, a point for Forest, with their vastly superior goal difference, will keep them up and send the Hatters down this evening in all but arithmetic. We’ll know for certain long before kick-off at 5.30pm (BST).
