Chelsea (H) 18/10/25

Nottingham Forest 0-3 Chelsea

                                                         Acheampong 49'

                                                         Neto 52'

                                                         James 84'

After five losses and two draws in his first seven games as manager, Ange Postecoglou was under serious pressure to turn his side’s form around. His start was the worst of any Forest manager in over 100 years. The connection between him and the fans was growing more toxic each game but could he finally get them slightly on his side?

In an attempt to try find a winning formula, Postecoglou made five changes to the side that lost away at St James’ Park. One of these was a surprise inclusion of Taiwo Awoniyi who last started a game for the Reds in early April. Chelsea made three changes to kick on from their victory over Liverpool before the international break. Enzo Maresca rotated his midfield as well as bringing Chalobah back into the side.

In the opening 20 minutes, Forest managed to put themselves in four different scoring positions due to Chelsea mistakes in their own half. The best of these opportunities fell to Morgan Gibbs-White. Josh Acheampong misplaced a pass which was latched onto by Awoniyi deep into the Chelsea half. He passed to the Forest captain whose first time shot from the edge of the box sailed just wide of the top left corner. Gibbs-White needs to start improving his shooting as only Eze has had more shots without scoring in the Premier League this season.

The hosts continued to dominate and get themselves into good attacking areas. Chelsea couldn’t really get themselves going, being sloppy in possession, and Forest saw off any real danger until the last 10 minutes of the first half. Their best chance in this spell fell to Andrey Santos. Joao Pedro lofted a ball over the Reds’ defence with Santos and Gusto running in behind. Santos got there first and took the chance first time, only to see his effort fire just wide of the right post.

After a poor first half, making errors, Maresca made three changes to try and impact the game. The impact was instant. Reece James whipped in a free-kick from the left which was headed clear by Gibbs-White. Gusto recollected the ball, finding Neto on the left. He drove down the wing before delivering in an inviting cross which was headed home by an unmarked Acheampong. Forest have now failed to win their last 13 matches when conceding first. The mission to turn this stat around became even more difficult as the Reds were quickly two goals down. Chelsea won a free-kick around 20 yards from goal. James laid the ball off for Neto whose low strike bounced into the net. Sels seemed to let the ball through his grip. Forest have now conceded ten set-piece goals under Postecoglou in all competitions.

After taking the lead, the visitors were in full control as Forest struggled. However, they did have a brilliant opportunity to pull a goal back. Zinchenko whipped in a ball into the box where it was met by an unmarked Neco Williams at the back post but his close-range effort fired well over the bar. This sparked a good spell for Forest as they started to create some decent opportunities. Anderson cfossed a corner from the right which was headed towards goal by Milenkovic. Sanchez got down well to his right to make a save but it landed into the path of Sangare. He took on an effort from a tight angle but Sanchez got up well to save again.

The frustration in the crowd after seeing their side miss so many chances continued to grow as they saw Forest hit the woodwork. Hudson-Odoi fired in a cross from the left which Igor Jesus did well to get under but his stretching effort hit the crossbar before bouncing onto the post. Despite getting into so many good offensive areas, Forest lacked that composure in front of goal. No such problem for Chelsea as they sealed the three points late on. Estevao sent in a corner from the right which was punched only half clear by Sels and it landed at the feet of James who rolled the ball home from 10 yards.

The drama wasn’t done there. Gusto received his second yellow card of the afternoon for lunging in on Neco Williams. His first came for catching Milenkovic late after the Serbian had already cleared the ball.

To summarise the game, I would say 45 minutes of hard work was undone in seven minutes. I thought we dominated the first half and we played well. We should’ve gone into the break at least one goal up as Chelsea gifted us many chances. Maresca’s half time substitutions really impacted the game in the way he wanted them too as they took more control. The three goals we conceded are really frustrating as two were from set-pieces and the other was recycled from a corner. Although Chelsea did dominate the second half, we limited their chances in open play and the only reason we lost by that many was due to our lack of defending dead balls. The scoreline did not reflect the game also due to how many chances we created. We got in so many good areas especially in behind their defence and then we are just so poor with that final pass or shot. If we took our chances, it would’ve been a different story. Since the start of the 2023/24 season, no manager has seen his team concede more goals in the Premier League in the first ten minutes of the second half than Postecoglou.

Forest: Sels; Williams, Milenkovic, Morato, Murillo (Wood 74'), Zinchenko (Savona 74'); Luiz (Hudson-Odoi 53'), Sangare, Anderson; Gibbs-White, Awoniyi (Igor Jesus 46')

Chelsea: Sanchez; James, Acheampong (Tosin 81'), Chalobah, Cucurella; Gusto, Lavia (Caicedo 46'); Neto (Estevao 78'), Santos (Guiu 46'), Garnacho (Gittens 46'); Joao Pedro