Nottingham Forest should wait to make mathematically sure of their Premier League standing after conceding two late objectives in a 3-2 house loss to Chelsea.
Forest started Saturday’s thrilling match figuring out some extent from their ultimate two matches could be sufficient to safe security after Luton City’s 3-1 loss at West Ham United and Burnley’s 2-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur.
After Willy Boly cancelled out Mykhailo Mudryk’s strike contained in the opening 16 minutes, Callum Hudson-Odoi thought he had gained the sport with a pleasant 74th-minute roller in opposition to his former facet.
Nonetheless, Chelsea silenced the Metropolis Floor by way of quickfire objectives from Raheem Sterling and Nicolas Jackson within the ultimate 10 minutes.
Chelsea’s third win in a row retains them seventh and stage on factors with Newcastle United in sixth, whereas Forest are three factors higher off than Luton with a match to go, however they’re 12 objectives higher off by way of objective distinction.
How the match unfolded
Mudryk managed Cole Palmer’s defence-splitting move and completed throughout Matz Sels to present Chelsea the lead, however Boly levelled for Forest with a free header from Morgan Gibbs-White’s free-kick supply, the ball taking a spark off Conor Gallagher on its approach in.
Forest additionally created loads of alternatives at 1-1 as Ryan Yates clipped the skin of the submit and Gibbs-White did likewise from a close-range header, with the rebound dropping to Chris Wooden.
The Forest striker one way or the other blazed over in one of many misses of the season, which just about proved pricey as Thiago Silva clipped the submit on the different finish quickly after.
Hudson-Odoi was subsequent to hit the body of the objective, putting the bar with a deflected shot, but it surely didn’t seem to matter when he minimize inside Malo Gusto and curled the ball previous Djordje Petrovic.
Then got here a late twist, although, as substitute Sterling scored an identical curling strike on the reverse finish within the eightieth minute, earlier than fellow alternative Reece James – getting back from a prolonged layoff – crossed for Jackson to move house a dramatic winner lower than two minutes later.
Hudson-Odoi belter not sufficient
Hudson-Odoi was enjoying within the Premier League for the one hundredth time and he marked that landmark in model in opposition to his former facet, with whom he made 72 of these appearances.
The eight objectives he has scored this season are probably the most by an English participant for Forest in a single Premier League marketing campaign since Jason Lee netted eight in 1995/96, whereas it’s twice as many as he managed for Chelsea throughout all these appearances.
That objective remarkably was not sufficient, although, due to Sterling and Jackson, that means Forest technically nonetheless want some extent to verify their security. Barring a really exceptional swing on the ultimate day, nonetheless, they are going to be protected for one more 12 months.
Palmer in Lampard and Drogba territory
Palmer brilliantly assisted Chelsea’s early opener and would have had one other had Jackson been extra scientific in entrance of objective.
The England midfielder now has 31 direct Premier League objective involvements in his debut marketing campaign at Stamford Bridge, which no participant within the division can higher.
He’s additionally solely the third Chelsea participant to each rating 20 or extra objectives (21 in whole) and supply 10 or extra assists (10 in whole) in a Premier League season for Chelsea after Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba, who each did so within the 2009/10 marketing campaign.
Membership studies
Nott’m Forest report | Chelsea report
Closing Premier League fixtures
Key details
Morgan Gibbs-White recorded his tenth help of the Premier League marketing campaign, with solely Ollie Watkins (12) making extra in 2023/24. He’s simply the third Nottingham Forest participant to hit double figures for assists in a single season within the competitors, after Bryan Roy in 1994/95 (11) and Ian Woan in 1995/96 (10).
Since Boxing Day 2023, solely three groups have picked up extra factors than Chelsea’s 35 within the Premier League (Man Metropolis, Arsenal and Liverpool). They’ve misplaced solely three of their 18 video games on this interval (W10 D5), with solely Man Metropolis (0) struggling fewer defeats.
Forest suffered their ninth house defeat of the Premier League season, their joint-most in a 20-team marketing campaign within the competitors (additionally 9 in 1998/99).
Mudryk scored his fifth Premier League objective of the season for Chelsea, with three of these being the opening objective of the match – solely Cole Palmer (eight) has opened the scoring extra usually for the Blues within the competitors this season.