Photo: ©️ Capital Football
Photo: ©️ Capital Football
Nottingham Forest (0) 0 v Chelsea (0) 1
Colwill 50
By Kaz Mochlinski at the City Ground
Premier League
Matchweek 38
Chelsea clinched a coveted Champions League place for next season with a battling, unyielding and determined display earning them victory away at one of their main rivals for qualification in Nottingham Forest.
Levi Colwill scored the only goal of the game just after half-time, as Chelsea ended their Premier League campaign with two consecutive 1-0 wins - in both of which they kept a clean sheet and got the winner from a defender in the second half.
It was enough for Chelsea to finish in fourth in the league table, two places higher than last year under Mauricio Pochettino, having gained six more points following the summer switch of head coach to Enzo Maresca.
Significantly, the Blues managed to make that slight but very crucial improvement with the youngest-ever starting XI in the Premier League, having an average age of 24 years 36 days in the competition across the season.
That adds hope to the club’s future alongside the immediate impact of joining Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur as one of three London teams among the six from England which will play in the Champions League this coming autumn.
With an estimated financial benefit to participants of potentially £100 million, the delight of Chelsea’s co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali was very visible as they joined in the post-match celebrations on the pitch at the City Ground.
The players and coaching staff had earned the right to revel in the moment. Chelsea achieved their Champions League aim with five wins in their last six Premier League games, including two victories in their final three away trips.
The Blues were beaten only once in the concluding nine league matches - at Newcastle United, one their fellow qualifiers for Europe’s elite competition club, along with inevitably yet again Liverpool and Manchester City.
Photo: ©️ Capital Football
Photo: ©️ Capital Football
Nottingham Forest in contrast had to settle for seventh place and a spot in the Conference League, the third tier European trophy which Chelsea will be trying to lift in the 2025 final on Wednesday evening.
Forest’s fans still delighted in their side getting back into any UEFA tournament for the first time since 1996, with the Trent End before kick-off making a mosaic asking “Take us on a trip” and putting up banners of a camper van and a “Destination Europe” road sign.
12 months ago Forest just avoided relegation from the Premier League in their final fixture, so there cannot be too much disappointment at this time coming within one game of being in the Champions League.
Nevertheless, some frustration was understandable after falling away with only one victory in their last five matches in the Premier League - and four home encounters at the end without a win, including three defeats.
But Forest opted for caution with a three-man midfield, leaving Callum Hudson-Odoi among the substitutes against his old club. Chelsea’s starting line-up was the widely anticipated one as Tyrique George was dropped.
There has to be some concern within the Blues hierarchy that everyone seemed to know in advance about Jadon Sancho coming in on the left wing and Pedro Neto switching to centre-forward, although as more of a “false number nine”.
Sancho and Neto both made key contributions to the winning goal, which came from a corner on the left that was not cleared completely. In a series of first-time touches, Sancho played the ball for Marc Cucurella to lift forward into the penalty area.
Neco Williams reached it with his head but could not divert it away from Neto, whose scuffed contact eluded Matz Sels, yet his effort on the angle would have rolled past the post if Colwill had not been alert enough to get to the ball for a tap-in from close range.
It was far from pretty, but Neto registered an assist and Colwill his third goal for Chelsea - with the first attempt on target of the contest by either side. There had not been any shots on goal or saves having to be made in the first half.
Conceding also meant that Sels shared the Golden Glove for the most Premier League clean sheets with Arsenal’s David Raya. The pair both finished on 13, breaking Joe Hart’s previous record low required to win it of 14 in 2014-15.
At the other end of the pitch, Forest did not manage an effort on target until the 77th minute, when Robert Sánchez had to make his first save. Even then, it was from a long free-kick hit weakly and straight at the Chelsea goalkeeper by Anthony Elanga.
Vitally for Forest, Morgan Gibbs-White could not find a way to make any creative impact, whether wide on the left, where he was well marshalled by Reece James, or moving more centrally and shut out of the game by the ever-excellent Moisés Caicedo.
Photo: ©️ Capital Football
Photo: ©️ Capital Football
Nottingham Forest: (4-3-3) Sels - Aina (Jota Silva 83), Milenković, Murillo, Williams - Domínguez (Yates 68), Sangaré (Hudson-Odoi 57), Anderson - Elanga, Wood, Gibbs-White
Chelsea: (4-2-3-1) Sánchez - James, Adarabioyo, Colwill, Cucurella - Fernández, Caicedo - Madueke (Dewsbury-Hall 86), Palmer, Sancho (Lavia 61) - Neto (Gusto 78)
Attendance: 30,263