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Chelsea welcome Nottingham Forest to Stamford Bridge for an unusual Monday 3pm Premier League encounter.
After their commanding 3-0 win in the reverse fixture back in October, the Blues will be aiming to complete a Premier League double over the Tricky Trees for only the second time, having previously done so in the 1998/99 campaign.
Match preview
Chelsea arrive for this encounter on the back of a dreadful five-game losing streak in the top flight, drawing a blank in all of them for the first time since 1912.
The Blues suffered a heavy 3-0 defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion last time out in the Premier League, which ended Liam Rosenior’s reign at the club.
Despite their league struggles, Chelsea will take confidence from their 1-0 FA Cup semi-final victory against Leeds United, overseen by interim boss Calum McFarlane.
Enzo Fernandez’s first-half header at Wembley secured a final showdown with Manchester City and brought an end to Chelsea’s three-game goal drought.
Despite currently being closer to 16th than the top five on points, the Blues would not see their Champions League hopes completely extinguished with a defeat, as sixth place could be sufficient if Aston Villa secure a top-five finish and win the Europa League.
Nottingham Forest stretched their unbeaten run to nine matches in all competitions with a narrow 1-0 victory over the Villans in Thursday’s Europa League semi-final first leg.
Chris Wood’s second-half penalty proved decisive for Vitor Pereira’s side, who have now won four games in a row in all competitions.
The Tricky Trees thrashed Sunderland 5-0 in their last Premier League outing, moving eight points clear of the drop zone and boosting their hopes of securing top-flight survival.
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).
Team news
McFarlane has confirmed that Reece James and Levi Colwill could return to the matchday squad after their respective injuries.
While Estevao Willian, Filip Jorgensen and Jamies Gittens are on the sidelines for the hosts.
Forest suffered a fresh injury blow on Thursday as Ola Aina was forced off in the second-half and is doubtful.
Dan Ndoye, Ibrahim Sangare, Jair Cunha and Murillo missed their UEL semi-final victory over Villa and are also doubts.
Nicolo Savona, Callum Hudson-Odoi, John Victor and Willy Boly are unavailable with injuries.
Predicted line-ups
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Sanchez, Gusto, Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella, Lavia, Caicedo, Palmer, Fernandez, Neto, Joao Pedro.
Nottingham Forest (4-4-2): Sels, Abbott, Milenkovic, Morato, Williams, McAtee, Anderson, Dominguez, Gibbs-White, Jesus, Lucca.
Prediction: Chelsea 2-1 Nottingham Forest.
