Chelsea beaten 3-1 by Nottingham Forest at home.
Chelsea were beaten 3-1 by Nottingham Forest at Stamford Bridge to make it 6 Premier League defeats in a row.
It couldn’t have started any worse for the Blues.
They conceded a goal after less than two minutes when Dilane Bakwa was allowed in behind the Chelsea defence and had all the time in the world to pick out Taiwo Awoniyi.
The striker had three defenders around him – but none of them thought to actually challenge him. He headed easily past Robert Sanchez.
If that was a bleak start, it was soon to get worse. Malo Gusto made the made decision to pull on Awoniyi’s shirt ten minutes later, and after a VAR review a penalty was given which Igor Jesus smashed in.
There was a chance for redemption when the Blues won a penalty. It was a pretty soft one – but it felt like a make-up call for one we could have had on Gusto minutes before. Unfortunately the incident which drew the foul was a clash of heads which left Jesse Derry in a bad state, and he was taken off.
But you know what comes next – Cole Palmer missed the resulting penalty.
After half time, things didn’t get any better. Forest scored again from a quick counter, and Robert Sanchez was taken off after getting a head injury. The stadium was emptying from about the 60th minute, and the only thing that mitigated the boos at full time was the fact that only half of the fans were left – as well as an injury time bicycle kick from Joao Pedro.
MOTM – Joao Pedro
Analysis
What can you really analyse from this game? It’s a new manager with the same players and the same problems. Conceding a soft early goal through shocking collective defending. Then making individual mistakes to allow the opposition a second goal. Then lacking any sort of belief or fight to try and change the course of the game.
At this point, you don’t even get the sense that losing more games could have the positive impact of bringing more radical change down the line. We’ve bottomed out, and all that’s left from now until the summer is misery.
Teams
Chelsea: Sanchez (Jorgensen 66); Gusto, Chalobah, Tosin (Colwill 46), Cucurella; Caicedo, Lavia (Andrey Santos 58); Palmer, Fernandez, Derry (Delap 45+9); João Pedro
Chelsea substitutes: Jorgensen, James, Acheampong, Fofana, Hato, Essugo
Nottingham Forest: Sels, Abbott (Williams 45+5), Morato, Jair Cunha (Milenkovic 46), Netz, Yates, McAtee, Dominguez (Anderson 46), Bakwa, Igor Jesus (Gibbs-White 46, Wood 67), Awoniyi
Nottingham Forest substitutes: Ortega, Moreira, Hutchinson, Lucca
Stats
|
Statistic |
Chelsea |
Nottingham Forest |
|---|---|---|
|
Ball Possession |
67% |
33% |
|
Expected Goals (xG) |
2.15 |
2.05 |
|
Total Shots |
21 |
6 |
|
Shots on Target |
5 |
4 |
|
Big Chances |
3 |
1 |
|
Big Chances Missed |
2 |
0 |
|
Accurate Passes |
597 (91%) |
267 (80%) |
|
Fouls Committed |
12 |
10 |
|
Corners |
10 |
1 |
Quote of the game
“The first 15 minutes was unacceptable. The manner in which the two goals were conceded has really set us back. It gave ourselves a mountain to climb. You can’t do that at this level” – Calum McFarlane on where Chelsea went wrong.
