Nottingham Forest stunned Chelsea 2-0 at Stamford Bridge on Monday, with Taiwo Awoniyi and Igor Jesus scoring early before Matz Sels saved a Cole Palmer penalty in a first half overshadowed by a serious injury to debutant Jesse Derry.
Awoniyi headed Forest ahead after just two minutes. Igor Jesus doubled the lead from the spot on 15 minutes after Malo Gusto pulled Awoniyi’s shirt, with referee pointing to the spot.
Chelsea’s misery deepened when 18-year-old Jesse Derry, making his full Premier League debut, was stretchered off in added time of the first half following a collision with Forest’s Zach Abbott. The forward received oxygen on the pitch during an eight-and-a-half-minute stoppage before being replaced by Liam Delap.
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Moments later, Chelsea were awarded a penalty for the incident, but Sels dived low to his right to deny Palmer. It was only the second Premier League spot-kick Palmer has missed in 20 attempts, and Sels’ first penalty save in nine faced in the competition.
Vitor Pereira made eight changes to his Forest side and introduced Morgan Gibbs-White, Elliot Anderson and Nikola Milenkovic at half-time to see out the result. Chelsea brought on Levi Colwill for his first appearance since the Club World Cup final, but had no further attacking options after Delap’s introduction.
The result leaves Chelsea facing a tense run-in, while Forest’s win moves them six points clear of the relegation zone with three games left. Jamie Carragher said the second goal “sums up Chelsea. Sloppy, lazy, lack of discipline and that’s not just today but across the season.”
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