After yet another loss, Ange Postecoglou has now gone eight games without a win as manager of Nottingham Forest. Check out the best facts and Opta data from this match with our Nottingham Forest vs Chelsea stats page.
All eyes were on under-pressure manager Ange Postecoglou in the build-up to the first Premier League game after the international break.
Forest were winless in seven games in all competitions since the Australian was appointed and had slipped to within one point of the relegation zone.
He’d given an impassioned defence of his record as a manager in his pre-game press conference on Friday, and he would have been desperate to prove a few of his doubters wrong with a positive result here.
But it wasn’t to be as, despite his side creating more than enough to get something from this meeting with Chelsea, they ultimately fell to what is undeniably a hugely damaging 3-0 defeat that took his winless start to eight matches.
Before this one, Postecoglou’s mood may have been boosted by seeing Chelsea’s starting lineup.
A lengthy injury list got even longer for Enzo Maresca’s side over the international break and, crucially, key midfielders Enzo Fernández and Moisés Caicedo both missed out. Caicedo was fit enough for a spot on the bench, but this was the first time he had been absent from Chelsea’s starting lineup in a Premier League game since Christmas Eve 2023 (vs Wolves), ending a run of 65 consecutive starts for the Ecuadorian.
A consequence was an inexperienced Chelsea team who had never played together before. With an average age of 23 years and 345 days, it was the youngest starting lineup named by any team in a Premier League game this season.
And a consequence of that was a disjointed first-half performance. Inside the opening 20 minutes, they made three errors leading to Forest shots, the joint most by any Premier League team in any entire match so far this season.
Nottingham Forest 0-3 Chelsea xg race
However, Forest were unable to make any of those chances or their early domination count, and they were made to pay for being wasteful in the final third.
Maresca decided at the break that he couldn’t watch his team struggle any more, making a triple substitution to introduce Caicedo, Jamie Gittens and Marc Guiu. The impact was almost immediate and, for Forest and Postecoglou, it was brutal.
Just three minutes and 15 seconds into the second half, teenage centre-back Josh Acheampong scored the first goal of his senior career, heading in after some fine work down the left from Pedro Neto.
And three minutes later, Neto got on the scoresheet himself, firing in low and hard from a free-kick on the edge of the box. Matz Sels got a strong hand on it but he couldn’t keep it out.
It was a terrible start to the second period for Forest, but this was nothing new for Postecoglou. Since the start of 2023-24, no manager has seen their teams concede more Premier League goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half than Postecoglou (16).
From there, there was no way back. They fought admirably, creating their best chances of the game, but were unable to find a goal. Igor Jesus struck post and bar with one effort from close in, before Neco Williams volleyed over from point-blank range when it seemed easier to score.
Late on, Chelsea captain Reece James added insult to injury for Forest by adding a third from a corner. It was yet another set-piece goal conceded by Forest; they have now conceded 11 set-piece goals under Postecoglou in all competitions, over twice as many as any other Premier League club in that time.
Forest won the xG battle 2.12 to 1.66, but there’s no prizes for expected goals in this business. Instead, the result piles the pressure on Postecoglou, while Chelsea move up to fourth.
Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Nottingham Forest vs Chelsea stats from their Premier League meeting at the City Ground.
The match centre below includes team and player stats, expected goals data, passing networks, an Opta chalkboard and more. It gives you everything you need to do your own match analysis.
Underneath the match centre you can find the official Opta stats on the game as well.
Nottingham Forest vs Chelsea Stats: Post-Match Facts
Ange Postecoglou at Nottingham Forest is the first manager to see his team score only one goal in his first five Premier League matches in charge since Sean Dyche at Burnley in 2014.
Chelsea have won three consecutive away league games against Nottingham Forest for the very first time, with their current run of five games unbeaten at the City Ground (W4 D1) also being their longest ever.
Pedro Neto has both scored and assisted in the same Premier League game for only the second time, previously doing so against Southampton in February last season – five of his last six goal involvements have come away from home, with three of his last four coming at the City Ground specifically.
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