Nottingham Forest moved six points clear of the Premier League relegation zone with a 3-1 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and sent a warning shot to Aston Villa ahead of Thursday’s Europa League semi-final second leg.
The home fans were furious at Chelsea’s sixth successive Premier League defeat, which put their chances of qualifying for Europe in serious doubt, while the visitors celebrated an emphatic victory few could have predicted when the team sheets came out.
Vitor Pereira made eight changes to his starting XI with the Villa game in mind. But it turned out to be the cost of the manager’s game plan, with the players around him seizing their opportunities before his star players saw their team win. Forest’s prospects have been boosted on both the domestic and European fronts.
Chelsea remain in ninth place, 10 points behind fifth-placed Aston Villa and three behind Brentford, and sit seventh in the final European standings. The FA Cup could yet offer them a gateway to the Europa League, but a semi-final win at Wembley last time out was expected to kick-start their season again. Here they have gone astray again.
Any suggestions that Forest had shifted their priorities in the Premier League were blown out of the water when Taiwo Awoniyi headed in Dilane Bakwa’s cross after just 97 seconds.
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Taiwo Awoniyi leads Nottingham Forest in their Premier League match against Chelsea.
The scoring from the Chelsea defense was non-existent and as the home side struggled to respond, their defending became even more abysmal when Marlo Gusto pulled down Awoniyi’s shirt in the box after Enzo Fernandes hit the post, handing Igor Jesus a chance to double the lead in the 15th minute.
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Igor Jesus scores a penalty to double Nottingham Forest’s lead in their Premier League clash with Chelsea.
Chelsea had the chance to score a penalty just before half-time following a nasty clash of heads between Forest defender Zach Abbott and Blues Premier League debutant Jesse Derry, but Cole Palmer had his spot-kick saved by Matz Sels.
It was only the second penalty kick he failed to score in 20 attempts in the Premier League, but conditions were difficult. After receiving treatment on the pitch for almost 10 minutes, the 18-year-old was taken to hospital on a stretcher for precautionary checks.
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Matz Sels saves Cole Palmer’s penalty during the Premier League match between Nottingham Forest and Chelsea.
Levi Colwill made his first appearance for Chelsea at half-time after overcoming an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury suffered on the first day of pre-season. However, there were three significant changes at Forest with the introduction of Morgan Gibbs-White, Elliott Anderson and Nikola Milenkovic.
Pereira’s call for his big name to be introduced appeared to be inspired when Anderson played Awoniyi through Gibbs-White to score Forest’s third goal seven minutes into the second half.
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Taiwo Awoniyi scores Nottingham Forest’s third goal in their Premier League tie against Chelsea.
Awoniyi was narrowly onside. Joao Pedro thought he had scored Chelsea’s comeback goal in the 73rd minute, but was narrowly ruled out for offside by VAR.
The Brazilian eventually got on the scoresheet with a brilliant overhead in extra time as the home side piled on the pressure. But it was the only thing that suited Chelsea on a day when everything turned to gold for Pereira and Forest.
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Joao Pedro ended Chelsea’s nine-hour goal drought with a stunning overhead kick in the Premier League clash with Nottingham Forest.
Carragher: Chelsea are a broken football club
Jamie Carragher on Sky Sports:
“It’s shocking and it comes from the top.
“We had five or six of our best players on the pitch today and they lost to the B team at Nottingham Forest.
“Less than 12 months later they took PSG to the cleaners.
“There is no relationship between players and staff, players and fans.
“In some ways it’s a good thing because it shows that football isn’t just about spending money, signing players and using the revolving door.
“It’s important to create unity but there’s nothing there. Right now it looks like a broken football club.”
