Raheem Sterling and Reece James returned and starred off the bench as Chelsea made sure the relatively-settled relegation fight stretched into Week 38 without certainty by coming back to beat Nottingham Forest 3-2 at the City Ground on Saturday.
Forest led 2-1 on a pair of Morgan Gibbs-White-assisted goals when Raheem Sterling leveled the line and James set up a Nicolas Jackson header to push the Blues back in front and keep them on pace for a top-seven spot.
Nottingham Forest had the chance to confirm their Premier League safety and were on pace to do so when Willy Boly and Callum Hudson-Odoi answered Mykhailo Mudryk’s opener to send the home crowd into elation.
WATCH NOTTINGHAM FOREST vs CHELSEA FULL MATCH REPLAY
However, Forest are likely safe anyway after Burnley lost to Spurs and Luton were undone by West Ham. Forest have three points more than 17th-place Luton, and there’s a 12-goal gap in goal differential that favors the Tricky Trees.
Chelsea join Newcastle on 57 points with two matches left each. Manchester United have 54 points and three games to go, one of which is against the Magpies. That means Chelsea control their top-seven destiny and have a decent look at sixth to boot.
Health means wealth for improving Blues
Go back to the day Chelsea completed their summer shopping and tell Mauricio Pochettino he’d get 29 minutes out of Romelo Lavia and get 10 or less Premier League appearances from Christopher Nkunku and Reece James. Tell him Ben Chilwell would get only 771 minutes and Wesley Fofana wouldn’t play at all. It might change his expected points total a bit.
Well, James and Nkunku finally returned for the Blues on Saturday and Raheem Sterling was back from a shorter but still significant spell on the sidelines. There’s a reason Chelsea are hitting high notes late in the season and it’s a combination of a full season playing Pochettino’s system and a full(ish) complement of players for him to select on any given Saturday. The side’s still young, but it’s no longer a matter of whether Chelsea will be strong again, but how strong and how quickly.
Nottingham Forest 2-3 Chelsea player ratings (fotmob.com)
Forest did well on the wings, as Morgan Gibbs-White and Callum Hudson-Odoi set up chances all game. Ironically, CHO got the goal despite creating four chances, while MGW settled for a pair of assists. Chelsea’s attackers were almost all good aside from an off Noni Madueke and rusty Christopher Nkunku. Raheem Sterling was quite strong off the bench.
Nottingham Forest 2-3 Chelsea player ratings (fotmob.com)
Nottingham Forest 2-3 Chelsea player ratings (fotmob.com)
What’s next?
Chelsea go to Brighton at 2:45pm ET Wednesday, then host Bournemouth at 11am ET on Championship Sunday. Forest got to Burnley in Week 38.
How to watch Nottingham Forest vs Chelsea live, stream link and start time
Kick off: 12:30pm ET Saturday
TV Channel: NBC/Peacock
Online: Watch live online via NBC.com & Peacock Premium
Nottingham Forest vs Chelsea live updates — By Nick Mendola
Nottingham Forest vs Chelsea final score: 2-3
Goalscorers: Mudryk (8'), Boly (16'), Hudson-Odoi (75'), Sterling (80'), Jackson (82')
Nicolas Jackson goal! Nottingham Forest 2-3 Chelsea (82nd minute)
Reece James is sprung down the right side and the newly-reintroduced captain snaps a pretty cross over a bunch of Forest defenders.
It’s Nicolas Jackson at the back post with a pinpoint header and his 14th Premier League goal of the season.
Quick turnaround here!
Raheem Sterling goal! Nottingham Forest 2-2 Chelsea (80th minute)
It’s the same goal at the other end. Super sub Raheem Sterling cutting inside from the right to snap a ball inside Sels’ far post.
2-2.
Callum Hudson-Odoi goal! Nottingham Forest 2-1 Chelsea (75th minute)
Morgan Gibbs-White drives the center of the pitch and finds Callum Hudson-Odoi out wide in what will be MGW’s second assist of the night.
Hudson-Odoi cuts inside to the right and quickly cracks a shot that fires inside the far post.
Forest look likely to be safe within the next 20 minutes.
Another Forest chance
Chris Wood gets a ball in the air across goal and Morgan Gibbs-White rises above his mark to head it toward the line.
But the ball hits Benoit Badiashile on the knee and bounds away from goal. It stays 1-1.
Post!
Ryan Yates sees a bit of space and strikes a low, skipping ball through traffic.
It claps the post to the left of a diving Djordje Petrovic. That was very close to sending the City Ground into orbit.
Halftime — Forest 1-1 Chelsea
All Chelsea’s ball but Forest firing at will.
The Tricky Trees have 10 shot attempts to Chelsea’s five despite holding just 29% of the ball at home.
Chelsea have a slight edge in xG but this one’s level on merit, not luck.
Boly goal! Nottingham Forest 1-1 Chelsea (16th minute)
Morgan Gibbs-White sends a tall, spinning cross toward the back post from a free kick situation.
Willy Boly gets high to head toward goal and it turns off a leaping Conor Gallagher’s foot to make it even harder on Chelsea keeper Djordje Petrovic.
1-1.
Mudryk goal! Nottingham Forest 0-1 Chelsea (8th minute)
Cole Palmer sends Mykhailo Mudryk into the box, and the Ukranian winger cuts toward goal and uses his right foot to roll it past Mats Sels.
Forest’s to-do list — Just don’t get cooked
All the Tricky Trees need to do over the final 180 minutes of the season is not allow a boatload of goals.
Forest have three more points than Luton and six more points available to them. Even a loss today would be fine provided it’s not by a ton of goals.
Even if Luton won by a bunch in Week 38, Forest enter this game with a 13-goal differential advantage and would have to get shellacked twice or historically-humiliated once.
Nottingham Forest lineup
Sels, Aina, Murillo, Boly, Montiel, Danilo, Yates, Niakhate, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi, Wood
Chelsea lineup
Petrovic, Chalobah, Silva, Badiashile, Cucurella, Caicedo, Gallagher, Palmer, Maduele, Mudryk, Jackson
Nottingham Forest focus, team news
OUT: Neco Williams (thigh)
Chelsea focus, team news
OUT: Enzo Fernandez (groin), Reece James (thigh), Romeo Lavia (hamstring - out for season), Wesley Fofana (torn ACL - out for season), Lesley Ugochukwu (hamstring), Robert Sanchez (illness), Carney Chukwuemeka (knee), Ben Chilwell (knee)
