Chelsea made it back-to-back Premier League wins with a 3-0 win over struggling Nottingham Forest on Saturday afternoon. Second-half goals from Josh Acheampong, Pedro Neto and captain Reece James allowed the Blues to build on their latest triumph over Liverpool and add further misery to under-fire Forest manager Ange Postecoglou at the City Ground.
Feeling the absence of midfielders Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez – the former on the bench and the latter absent altogether – Chelsea struggled to possess possession as Forest squandered scoring chances through Elliot Anderson and Morgan Gibbs-White. Despite being second in the first half, the visitors almost took the lead through Andrey Santos, but he shot wide of the post.
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca, in the stands after his red card for celebrating against Liverpool, announced the changes at half-time, bringing in Caicedo, Jamie Gittens and Marc Guiu, and his substitutions were effective in injecting energy into his side’s play. And it didn’t take long for the Blues to take the lead in the second half: Acheampong headed home a precise cross from Neto after 49 minutes. The winger did it again by doubling the lead three minutes later with a free kick which deceived Forest goalkeeper Matz Sels.
Forest continued to pose a threat, but it just wasn’t their day in front of goal, as Neco Williams blazed over from close range before Igor Jesus hit the crossbar. And the hosts’ misery was compounded when James scored a third for Chelsea, who were reduced to 10 men when Malo Gusto was sent off late on.
AIM assesses Chelsea players from the City Ground…
