Chelsea Suffer A Shaky Start To 2023 Against Nottingham Forest

A well-earned draw against Chelsea gave Nottingham Forest a crucial point in their battle to avoid relegation, while Chelsea lost ground in the fight to finish in the Premier League top four.

After Wily Boly deflected a cross onto his bar, Raheem Sterling scored from five yards for Chelsea.

In the second half, Forest attacked aggressively, and Morgan Gibbs-White nearly scored when his incredible shot hit the crossbar.

The equalizer was scored by Serge Aurier, who displayed excellent control by controlling the ball on his chest.

Since Graham Potter became Chelsea’s coach on September 8, 2022, the club has only won consecutive league games once. After the draw, Chelsea moved up to the eighth place, passing Brighton, but are still seven points behind Manchester United in fourth.

Forest, who came back from a deficit to earn a point for the first time this year, climb up to the 18th spot, passing Wolverhampton Wanderers, and are only behind fourth-worst West Ham United on goal differential.

Following victories by Manchester United and Liverpool in the previous 48 hours, Chelsea entered the game aware that anything less than three points would put them farther behind the top four.

When Boly, who was being pressured by Kai Harvetz, accidentally back-heeled a Christian Pulisic cross onto the bar, they started with good intentions and Mason Mount produced two dangerous shots. Sterling then reacted quickly to put Chelsea ahead.

After halftime, despite Potter making all five substitutes to reverse the momentum of the game, the visitors were lackluster from that point on and failed to have a shot on goal.

Having said that, Chelsea’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang missed a chance to win the game for Potter’s team with a header following a dangerous cross from substitute Hakim Ziyech.

Chelsea now has just one win in their last five games across all competitions, and they have lost their last five away Premier League games.