Nottingham Forest took a huge step towards Premier League survival with a 3-1 win at Chelsea on Monday that dealt a major blow to the Blues’ hopes of qualifying for the Champions League
It is not the record that Chelsea’s owners dreamt of when they bought the club four years ago – the lost means the Londoners have now lost six league games in a row for the first time since 1993.
It could have been worse – until Joao Pedro’s spectacular overhead strike in the 93rd minute, they were on course to suffer six consecutive league defeats without scoring in any of those matches for the first time in their 121-year history.
With the former European champions plummeting down the league table, the sole comfort for their fans is likely to be that there are only three more league games until the end of the season and the club cannot be relegated.
Chelsea’s run has been so bad that even relegated Burnley and Wolverhampton Wanderers have been in less terrible form since mid-March.
Toothless in attack, overrun in midfield and fragile in defence, Chelsea – under interim coach Calum McFarlane – were always second best to Forest.
Vítor Pereira made eight changes to the Forest side that beat Aston Villa 1-0 in a Europa League semi-final four days earlier and had an eye on the second leg on Thursday.
Luck was not with the hosts – winger Jesse Derry was taken to hospital as a precaution after suffering a head injury on his league debut, goalkeeper Robert Sanchez was also taken off after a clash of heads and Cole Palmer had a penalty saved at 0-2.
But when Taiwo Awoniyi tapped in for his second goal of the game and Forest’s third in the 52nd minute, angry chants broke out around Stamford Bridge aimed at the U.S.-led consortium that owns Chelsea.
Taiwo Awoniyi marked his 100th Forest appearance with the early opener at Stamford Bridge.
It has spent more than 1 billion pounds ($1.35 billion) on players since the takeover four years ago and there were hopes that the investment might finally be paying off when Chelsea won the Club World Cup last summer a few weeks after victory in Europe’s number-three competition, the Conference League.
REUTERS
