Nottingham Forest – Chelsea: Chelsea Clinch Champions League Ticket (0-1)
As the race to finish in the top five concluded, City Ground set the stage for a straight shootout between two contenders. This ‘winner takes all’ affair would be the cagey clash that was touted on paper, but there would be no fairytale ending for the unfancied Forest at the final whistle.
Tactical analysis and match report by Emmanuel Adeyemi-Abere.
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Since summer 2022, Nottingham Forest have flung out the rulebook to stay in the Premier League. Their mass spending spree seemed to be taking the squad nowhere fast, but Nuno Espírito Santo has turned their tools into one of the best counterpunches in the top tier. There have been Big Six scalps and a run to the final four of the FA Cup, but it is not enough for the explosive Evangelos Marinakis. A top five finish may be the difference between finishing a fairytale and furious fracturing at the club.
Crass can best describe BlueCo: no one has been above chaos at Chelsea in the last three years. A new man in the dugout, with the groundwork of a much-maligned Mauricio Pochettino, pushed the team to second spot in the table. But the grace period is gone for Enzo Maresca, who made a meal of his swift start. A rotten run in winter would drag the team into the Champions League race, and only a recent resurgence, with wins over Liverpool and Manchester United, has put their target back in their hands.
Nicolas Jackson was still out of the Chelsea squad due to a red card in a 2-0 loss at Newcastle United. Tyrique George gained a chance as a central forward against Manchester United, but Pedro Neto took the place of the teenager. Maresca stationed Jadon Sancho on the left wing, and Noni Madueke moved to the right. Trevoh Chalobah continued to sit on the bench as Tosin Adarabioyo paired up with Levi Colwill in central defense. Reece James joined in as a right back, receiving his second start in a row.
Espírito Santo sent out the same eleven players he picked in a 2-1 win over West Ham United. Ola Aina has been back for the last month to play as a right back while Neco Williams was on the left of the rearguard. Ibrahim Sangaré stayed at the base of a midfield that also included Elliot Anderson and Nicolás Domínguez. Morgan Gibbs-White would operate as the attacking midfielder behind Anthony Elanga and Chris Wood. So, there was no starting spot for Cobham graduate Callum Hudson-Odoi.
Forest fire forward in the first phase
Forest have been a countercultural club in this campaign, flying up the rankings without the need to control contests with the ball. With the prowess of Chris Wood at the back post and the lightning speed of Elanga, the side can move about their tools to maximize moments of frailty from opponents.
16th minute: defensive sequence from Chelsea. Aina fed the ball to Elanga, who dribbled away from Cucurella and connected with Gibbs-White. He bounced the ball back to the winger and spun wide, attracting attention from Caicedo. Colwill now had to manage the situation: a sideway stance allowed him to pivot forward and intercept a pass to Domínguez. Forest then took the ball back and Murillo pumped a diagonal towards Cucurella, whom Gibbs-White nudged in the air to win a throw-in.
Chances were not frequent, but the threat from the hosts was established in the first ten minutes. Enzo and Neto let a loose ball bounce for Sangaré, James jumped out to Wood and Gibbs-White wandered into the left channel to carry into the final third before the right back knocked the ball out of his path.
Cucurella came under pressure more often than his counterpart on the other end of the back four— forcing Tosin and Colwill to come to his aid. Wood would latch onto a delivery at the end of a chaotic sequence in the 23rd minute, but at least, Chelsea did not suffer a series of strikes at their goal.
Forest fend off Chelsea circuits
The vision for Chelsea at the start of the season seemed to be the use of a controlled and structured approach on the ball. But even in the first fixture between these two outfits in October, Forest figured out how to take apart Maresca’s plan in possession, and his men stifled their opponents once more.
Following on from their trip to West Ham last week, Forest fielded a more diamond-like system than the standard 4-4-2 formation from the visit to Stamford Bridge. Gibbs-White was in a central position between Wood and Elanga while Sangaré sat between the two other central midfielders. Whatever the layout, Espírito Santo strives to drill his players to stay in a tight, stable shape. They duly achieved that target and pointed out problems for their guests, who made very little stick in the final third.
Cucurella continues to move into more central areas of the field, but Cole Palmer cut a pale figure with next to no service to threaten the goal in the final third. Jadon Sancho, stuck in wide areas, is a much more predictable threat than Noni Madueke, who again tried to take on his man in volume with dribbles from the right wing. Red shirts in the center collapsed on flat passes through the block and the threat of the split strikers with Gibbs-White feeding men ahead of him lurked in the background.
37th minute: offensive transition from Nottingham Forest. Chelsea had been circulating the ball with Cucurella bouncing passes back to Tosin: Nikola Milenković and Murillo moved out aggressively to snap into duels and challenge Palmer and Neto, turning over the ball. Tosin then charged out of the defense, Murillo nailed Neto with a second tackle and Wood was able to receive the ball. He laid it off towards Elanga, but Colwill eased him out of the way to avoid having to defend half of the field alone.
The transition Forest imagined in their minds arrived at the cusp of half time. Wood won a rebound from a blocked delivery, and Sangaré stepped in front of Palmer to flick on a second header into the path of Gibbs-White. The number ten hurdled over a challenge from Caicedo, releasing Williams and Elanga to run down the left wing. The ball worked its way to Aina on the other side of the field and his cross connected with Wood, who poked the ball past the flailing Robert Sánchez but over the bar.
Colwill caps off his campaign in style
The officials across the league looked to kick off the restart at the same time— adding to the angst around the grounds. Manchester City had gone in front at Fulham, but the other two spots still seemed up for grabs. Aston Villa were down to ten men at Old Trafford and Newcastle United were goalless at home to Everton. A game breaking goal would be critical in the Midlands, and it soon materialized.
Momentum was with Forest, but the strike put a serious dent in their ambitions in the 50th minute. A short corner routine rotated the ball to Palmer, who planted a delivery on the head of Murillo in the penalty area. Enzo snaffled the second ball, cushioning it to Cucurella, who hooked it towards the danger zone. The ball bounced off the head of Williams, and it fell for Neto. The forward flicked a boot before Milenković or Matz Sels swept up the scene, and Colwill converted at the back post.
62nd minute: offensive sequence from Nottingham Forest. Enzo was covering Hudson-Odoi so there was less central cover from the midfield. Anderson scans and sees Gibbs-White, drops towards the ball, bringing out Caicedo, and passed back to Murillo. James then has to decide what space to protect and Gibbs-White wandered behind him in the channel, but Tosin tracked to block a cross.
The situation demanded goals from Forest, and Espírito Santo called on the cavalry as the hour mark neared. Ryan Yates replaced Domínguez, and Hudson-Odoi swapped in for Sangaré, so Forest now fielded two threats on the wings while Anderson advanced to help attack on the left side of the field.
However, negative game states are not ideal for Forest and the pressure began to get to the players. Maresca managed the tight advantage for the final phase of the contest. Malo Gusto gained a spot from Neto, filling in on the right flank in a back five, Madueke made way for Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, and Palmer played at the top of the block. It was not pretty, but the guests got over the line.
#PL season 24/25. ✅#CFC | #NFOCHE pic.twitter.com/vYI0l87uri
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) May 26, 2025
Takeaways
Chelsea can celebrate claiming fourth position in the table— and a place in the Champions League for the first time in three campaigns. That moment marks a significant stride in the era of Todd Boehly, but caution is still advisable. Neither has Maresca managed to platform performances from the players in the final third in the way that Pochettino had done nor does this squad seem well-rounded enough to punch right at the top of the table. There is work to do to figure out how the club can close that gap.
Yet, no one can take away from Chelsea the reality that they rinsed out required results in the month of May. On the other hand, these last few weeks will bring much regret for Nottingham Forest. Their finish in the seventh spot is a sensational feat for a side many feared would be in the bottom three and the team have earned the right to play in Europe for the first time in almost three decades. But the best time to strike is when adversaries do not see you coming and they have allowed this moment to pass.
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