Nottingham Forest vs Chelsea

Nottingham Forest and Chelsea will lock horns at the City Ground in a tasty-looking Premier League contest.

Nottingham Forest’s appeal against a point deduction for breaching PSR rules came a cropper this week, as the Premier League upheld their decision to leave Nuno Espirito Santo’s team only three points clear of 18th-placed Luton. However, a victory against a Chelsea side they overcame 1-0 in the reverse fixture would guarantee survival ahead of the final round, given their superior goal difference to Luton. The Tricky Trees dismantled the already relegated Sheffield United 3-1 last weekend to arrest a dismal four-game winless league run (D1, L3) and set themselves up nicely for this encounter. Yet, the hosts have stuttered at home recently, only winning once across their last five Premier League matches at the City Ground (D2, L2), where they’ve only kept two clean sheets since the start of November.

Despite losing at home in September, Chelsea will be confident of avoiding suffering their first league double at the hands of Nottingham Forest since the 1978/79 campaign following a noticeable uptick in form. Mauricio Pochettino’s men thrashed West Ham 5-0 at home last weekend to extend their unbeaten league run to three games (W2, D1) and leapfrog Manchester United into seventh, reinforcing their hopes of securing European qualification. In fact, the Blues have only lost one of their last 12 Premier League outings (W6, D5), though each of those six wins came on home turf. The visitors have stuttered on the road, going winless in five consecutive away league matches since a 3-1 win at Crystal Palace in February (D4, L1).