Nottingham Forest will aim to take a big step towards Premier League survival by continuing their excellent recent record against Chelsea on Monday.
Forest will be in confident mood after beating Aston Villa 1-0 in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final on Thursday.
With four days to recover from that game, Forest have reason to be hopeful of a huge result against Chelsea, who are playing their first league game since the sacking of Liam Rosenior.
Should Tottenham claim a surprise win at Aston Villa on Sunday, Forest will head into this game just two points above the bottom three.
In the seemingly more likely event that Spurs lose at Villa Park, Forest would have the chance to go eight points clear of the drop zone and all but secure their Premier League status for next season with victory at Chelsea.
Recent history is in Forest’s favour, as they are unbeaten in each of their three visits to Stamford Bridge since returning to the Premier League in 2022.
However, Chelsea were improved in their first game of Calum McFarlane’s second interim spell in charge in last Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final against Leeds United. Enzo Fernandez scored the only goal of the game to send them to a final against Manchester City.
Chelsea will be looking to boost their hopes of a top-six finish, with their hopes of securing a spot in the top five likely gone following their dismal run of results in the league.
The Blues have lost each of their last five games in the league without scoring a goal. Chelsea have not lost six in a row since November 1993, and have never suffered six defeats consecutively without scoring in their league history.
Despite that dire run, McFarlane insists Chelsea’s morale is high.
“It [the mood within the squad] is really positive,” McFarlane told his pre-match press conference.
“Football is a results business, and when you’re losing, it feels like everything is the worst thing in the world. And when you win, it feels amazing.
“So, the mood has lifted after breaking the recent run of losses. I thought we performed really well against Leeds at times, which is another positive. We showed different elements of our game that we were really happy with, and we need to try to continue that and stick to the processes that brought that performance.”
Team news for Chelsea v Nottingham Forest
Reece James (hamstring) and Levi Colwill, who has missed the entire season with a knee injury, could return for Chelsea.
Filip Jorgensen (groin), Estevao and Jamie Gittens (both hamstring) are set to miss out for the Blues.
Forest were without Murillo, Jair Cunha, Dan Ndoye and Ibrahim Sangaré against Villa and that quartet are unlikely to feature at Stamford Bridge. Callum Hudson-Odoi is out for the season.
Predicted line-ups for Chelsea v Nottingham Forest
Chelsea: Sanchez; Gusto, Chalobah, Adarbioyo, Cucurella; James, Caicedo; Palmer, Fernandez, Neto; Pedro.
Nottingham Forest: Sels; Aina, Morato, Milenkovic, Williams; Anderson, Dominguez; Hutchinson, Gibbs-White, Ndoye; Wood.
Where to watch Chelsea v Nottingham Forest: TV and online streams
Chelsea v Nottingham Forest kicks off at 3:00pm on Monday. It will be broadcast on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League. It is available to stream via Sky Go.
If you’re watching from outside the UK, click HERE for details of the channels showing the game in your region.
Stats for Chelsea v Nottingham Forest
- Chelsea are looking to complete the Premier League double over Forest for just the second time, after the 1998-99 campaign.
- Forest have lost just two of their eight Premier League away games against Chelsea (W2 D4), and are unbeaten in all three visits to Stamford Bridge since their return to the competition in 2022 (W1 D2).
- Chelsea have won 1-0 and 3-0 in their last two league games against Forest – only between April and August 1966 have they won three in a row against Forest.
- Forest are unbeaten in their last six Premier League games (W3 D3), with only Brighton and Hove Albion (16) collecting more points since the start of March than their 12. Indeed, they’ve netted 3+ goals in three of their last four league games, as many times as in their prior 29 matches.
- Only West Ham (15) have conceded more goals from corners in the Premier League this season than Chelsea (11), while only West Ham (5) and Liverpool (4) have scored more goals from corners than Nottingham Forest since Vitor Pereira’s first game in February (3).
- Forest star Morgan Gibbs-White’s 16 Premier League goal involvements is already his best return in a top-flight campaign (13 goals, 3 assists), beating his 15 in 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- Twelve of his 16 have come in 2026, with only Bruno Fernandes (15) recording more since the turn of the year.
Prediction for Chelsea v Nottingham Forest
Forest put in an excellent performance against Villa in Europe, but that kind of effort will also likely have taken a lot out of them. Chelsea have some of their confidence back and are good enough to take advantage and end their rotten run.
Prediction: Chelsea 2-1 Nottingham Forest
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