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Pre-match listening: Myself, Barney Ronay and Jonathan Wilson were up with the lark to join Max Rushden and pick over the bones of the weekend action in the latest episode of our Football Weekly podcast. Warning: may contain middle-aged men bickering and one extremely laboured tea analogy.
Those teams: Vitor Pereira has channeled his inner Unai Emery and made eight changes to the side that beat Aston Villa on Thursday night. Morato, Nico Dominguez and Igor Jesus are the only survivors as a host of first team regulars drop to the bench for a rest.
It’s a risky strategy that may prove to have backfired come season’s end, but Pereira clearly feels his players have enough about them to pick up the points they need to avoid relegation in their remaining games, even if they lose today. And let’s face it, given they are playing Chelsea-in-freefall, there’s every chance Forest won’t lose today.
With Pedro Neto and Alejandro both absent from the home squad, Jesse Derry comes into the Chelsea side to make his full senior debut. The 18-year-old winger is the son of Shaun Derry, the former Notts County, Crystal Palace and QPR legend. As expected, Reece James and Levi Colwill are on the Chelsea bench, where they will be rubbing shoulders with Cole Palmer, who is not fully fit.
Chelsea v Nottingham Forest line-ups
Chelsea: Sanchez, Gusto, Chalobah, Tosin, Cucurella, Caicedo, Lavia, Palmer, Derry, Fernandez, Joao Pedro.
Subs: Jorgensen, Acheampong, Colwill, Fofana, James, Hato, Santos, Essugo, Delap.
Nottingham Forest: Sels, Abbott, Morato, Jair Cunha, Netz, Yates, McAtee, Dominguez, Bakwa, Igor Jesus, Awoniyi.
Subs: Ortega, Williams, Anderson, Gibbs-White, Wood, Da Silva Moreira, Lucca, Hutchinson, Milenkovic.
Early team news
Filip Jorgensen, Estavao Willian and Jamie Gittens remain sidelined but Chelsea could welcome Reece James and Levi Colwill back into their matchday squad. Colwill is back from an ACL he suffered in pre-season and has not played since the Club World Cup final. “When someone’s had an injury for that long, you have to be patient,” said Calum McFarlane. “We just need to manage his minutes, not push him too much. We don’t want to risk re‑injuring him, but he looks brilliant and he is in a really good place.”
Forest right-back Ola Aina limped out of Thursday night’s Europa League semi-final against Aston Villa but may return this afternoon. At his pre-match press conference, Vitor Pereira was unable to offer updates on the fitness of Dan Ndoye, Ibrahim Sangare, Jair Cunha and Murillo. Callum Hudson-Odoi, Nicolo Savona, John Victor and Willy Boly are definitely out.
Premier League: Chelsea v Nottingham Forest
Stamford Bridge hosts a high-stakes Bank Holiday clash between two sides suffering different end-of-season anxieties. Chelsea have an imminent FA Cup final to focus on but must win today to end a remarkable five-match Premier League losing streak to keep their already slim hopes of playing Champions League football next season alive.
Dragged back into a relegation battle they hoped they’d escaped, Nottingham Forest currently find themselves between two legs of a Europa League semi-final against Aston Villa. While the lights of Villa Park beckon for Thursday’s second leg, Forest cannot afford to take things easy this afternoon. Kick-off is at 3pm (BST) but we’ll have team news and build-up in the meantime.
