Taiwo Awoniyi scored a brace to help Nottingham Forest produce one of the close football scores of the weekend in the Premier League. After a mistake by returning Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, Awoniyi gave Forest the lead at the interval with a header (13). However, the hosts came out the fire in the second half, and Raheem Sterling scored twice (51, 58) to give his team the lead. However, following some shoddy defense by Frank Lampard’s team from a long throw-in, Awoniyi sprang up in the box to score his second header of the game (62), restoring parity. Chelsea’s advantage only lasted four minutes. To earn a rare away draw and what may be a crucial point in the relegation race going into their last two games of the season against Arsenal and Crystal Palace, Forest hung on amid a late Chelsea surge.
Forest prepared to counter Chelsea as the visitors put on a lackluster first-half performance despite controlling the majority of the possession after Leeds drew at Newcastle to cut the deficit between them and Leeds to two points. Felipe’s errant header from Renan Lodi’s front-post corner was the first indication of the visitors’ potential threat from set pieces. as 13 minutes, the visitors had the perfect start as Lodi’s stunning delivery for Awoniyi enticed Mendy to leave his line. However, the Forest striker beat the custodian to the ball and headed into an empty net.
Chelsea’s greatest opportunity came when Sterling’s early diagonal almost caught out Forest captain Joe Worrall, but the defender recovered and produced a goal-saving stop in the area to save the striker from tying the score. Other than that, the Blues struggled and were unable to overcome Forest’s low block. To make matters worse, Mateo Kovacic suffered an injury at the conclusion of the first half. At Stamford Bridge, after a terrible first half that earned them jeers from fans, Chelsea improved after the interval, although still being weak at set-pieces. Against the flow of the game, Forest almost made it 2-0 from a corner, but Moussa Niakhate was unable to touch the ball at the back post.
Sterling then scored twice in a row for Chelsea to take the lead. The first had a slight bit of luck when, following Trevoh Chalobah’s cut-back, his effort bounced off Ryan Yates on the ground and into the roof of the net. After going eight games without a goal, Sterling then made Felipe look foolish before cutting in from his right to give Chelsea the lead. As Stamford Bridge rallied behind a resurgent Chelsea, Forest appeared to be crumbling, but they were saved by a long throw-in that was only partially cleared, allowing Orel Mangal to lob the ball back into the danger zone where Awoniyi was waiting to head home.
After Lodi’s terrifying left-footed attempt, which came just shy of giving Forest the lead again, the final few minutes belonged to Chelsea. To the joy of the visiting supporters, who were delighted at full-time as they serenaded the squad, Forest, however, shut down and held Chelsea at bay for the final 20 minutes to earn only their fifth point on the road in the league this season.
“It wasn’t a stellar outcome, in my opinion. While we fought hard for what we got, it might have been more, so I enjoy that there is a mix of some dissatisfied guys in the dressing room,” Nottingham Forest head coach Steve Cooper said. “Although we know we gave it our all, committed to the game plan, and showed good resiliency after falling down 2-1, the emotion was mixed. It was going exactly how we wanted it to go, so turning the score quickly to 2-1 and then winning the game is a plus.”
“We had a hard time in set pieces. The lengthy looping toss is hard to counter. Recently, when it mattered most to them, we saw them score goals from that,” Chelsea boss Frank Lampard said. “Since they have a larger team than we do, there was always a danger. But it’s something we must manage. We have two capable goalkeepers. Although Kepa has been performing really well, it was OK to give Mendy a chance in this instance.”
