Chelsea 1 – 3 N Forest

Nottingham Forest stunned woeful Chelsea 3-1 at Stamford Bridge to move six points clear of the Premier League relegation zone and send a warning shot to Aston Villa ahead of Thursday’s Europa League semi-final second leg.

As the home fans fumed at a sixth consecutive Premier League defeat for Chelsea, who have their own European qualification chances in serious doubt, the visitors celebrated an emphatic win that few would have predicted when the team sheets appeared.

Vitor Pereira made eight changes to his starting line-up with the Villa game seemingly on his mind. But it turned out to be a masterstroke of a game plan from the head coach, with his fringe players seizing their opportunity before his star men saw the team to victory. Forest’s prospects on both the domestic and European fronts have been boosted.

Chelsea remain ninth and are now unable to achieve fifth place in the Premier League, which would ensure Champions League qualification. If Villa win the Europa League and finish fifth, sixth would be enough to reach Europe’s elite club competition and the Blues are four points off Bournemouth, who occupy that spot.

But any European football is far from certain for this team. The FA Cup could yet offer them a gateway to the Europa League, but their semi-final win at Wembley last time out was supposed to revive their season. They have fallen back into their bad ways here.

Any suggestion that Forest had switched priorities away from the Premier League was blown out of the water after just 97 seconds, when Taiwo Awoniyi headed in Dilane Bakwa’s cross.

The marking of the Chelsea defense was non-existent and after Enzo Fernandez hit the post as the home side scrambled for a response, there was more terrible defending, with Malo Gusto pulling Awoniyi’s shirt in the box to give Igor Jesus the chance to double the lead on 15 minutes.

Chelsea had their own opportunity to score a penalty just before half-time when there was a nasty clash of heads between Forest defender Zach Abbott and Blues Premier League debutant Jesse Derry, but Cole Palmer saw his spot-kick saved by Matz Sels.

It was only the second Premier League penalty he failed to score in 20 attempts, but the circumstances were difficult. After nearly 10 minutes of treatment on the pitch, the 18-year-old Derry had to be stretchered off and taken to hospital for precautionary checks.

Levi Colwill came on at half-time for his first Chelsea appearance of the campaign, having overcome the ACL injury he picked up on the first day of pre-season. But there was also a significant triple change from Forest, with Morgan Gibbs-White, Elliot Anderson and Nikola Milenkovic brought on.

Pereira’s call to introduce his big names looked inspired when Anderson Gibbs-White played through to beat Awoniyi for Forest’s third just seven minutes into the second half.

Awoniyi was narrow on the side. Joao Pedro was seen offside by VAR when he thought he had pulled one back for Chelsea on 73 minutes.

The Brazilian finally got on the scoresheet with a brilliant header in stoppage time as the home side piled on the pressure. But that was about the only thing that went right for Chelsea, on a day where everything turned to gold for Pereira and Forest.

McFarlane: ‘First 15 minutes unacceptable’

Interim Chelsea boss Calum McFarlane:

“Really disappointed with the performance, disappointed with the result, I don’t think we ever got to our level today that we know we’re capable of.

“I thought the first 15 minutes we were nowhere near the level we needed to be. The early goal was a bit of a blow and we didn’t seem to really recover from that moment.

“It was a three-on-one at the back post. We know they like to go to the back post, we know the No.9 likes to peel to the back post and we should have defended that moment better. Really disappointing. I thought we defended that moment really well (against) Leeds at Wembley and I just don’t think we recovered from that moment well enough.

“When we did recover and have our moments, Enzo hits the posts, Cole misses a penalty, Joao’s offside goal… when you start that badly, you need those moments to go your way, to give you a chance to fight back in the game.

“The first 15 minutes were unacceptable.”

Carragher: Chelsea look like a broken football club

Jamie Carragher on Sky Sports:

“It’s shocking and it’s coming from the top.

“There are five or six really top players on the pitch today and they were beaten by Nottingham Forest’s B team.

“Less than 12 months ago they took PSG to the cleaners.

“There is no connection between the players and the staff, the players and the fans.

“In some ways it’s a good thing because it tells you that football is not just about spending money, buying players and this revolving door.

“It’s about creating cohesion and there’s none there. They look like a broken football club at the moment.”

Pereira is hoping for medical ‘magic’ to help Gibbs-White be available for Europa League

Nottingham Forest could be sweating on the availability of Morgan Gibbs-White for Thursday’s Europa League semi-final second leg at Aston Villa after he was taken off with a head injury in the second half.

Gibbs-White collided with Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez, who saw blood on Gibbs-White’s face. The two both walked with bandages around their heads.

“Gibbs-White has a deep cut but he’s a fighter, he’s got a strong mentality,” Forest boss Vitor Pereira said. “I hope our medical department can do some magic to get him fit. Because he is important to us. I told him you don’t have to head the ball, just play. We’ll see.”

Concussion protocols could mean Gibbs-White could miss Thursday’s trip to Villa Park, where Forest lead 1-0 in the first leg, but Pereira said he was confident concussion would not be a problem.

Pereira: This is a special group

Vitor Pereira, boss of Nottingham Forest, to Sky Sports:

“The only thing I’m sad about is the injury to Morgan Gibbs-White. I said we can change the players but the spirit will be there and we will compete for the three points.

“We want to keep our future in our hands – and to do that we have to win games. Today the players again showed the spirit, the quality and the organization. I am very happy for my players and the fans.

“We again showed strong spirit and that this is a special group. It is difficult to deal with four different managers, methodologies and tactical demands. It is difficult to keep them united, with friendship, and they are one of the best groups I have worked with in my career.”

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