Chelsea Drop Points, But Not All Hope is Lost

Chelsea were set to host Nottingham Forest this week in the Premier League. Coming in to the game Chelsea have scored the most goals in the league at 16. While the attack has been on form, Forest’s backline have been tough and sturdy only conceding 5 goals all year and a historic 1-0 win at Anfield against Liverpool.

The match started out dry for most of the first half. Not many chances were created until the end of the first half that finally saw Chelsea’s first shot at goal coming from Enzo Fernandez. Credit to Forest as this was their gameplan coming into the fixture. Make Chelsea work for a goal, Forest knew if they could limit goals early from Chelsea that they would have a chance to grab points in this match.

“There’s no other way to play football in the Premier League if you’re not solid and compact and strong on defense,” said Forest coach Nuno Santo.

With no changes out of halftime the second half kicked off

5 minutes into the half Forest go 1-0 up to kick off the score.

Goal from Chris Wood in the 49th minute that comes from a dead ball set piece. The ball is whipped in from James Ward-Prowse and lands on defender Nikola Milenkovic’s head and the ball falls perfectly in the path for Wood to slot his 4th goal of the season in 7 games. A true training ground routine goal.

However, this isn’t the Chelsea of last season where they maybe fail to put a goal together after going down.

Less than 10 minutes later Cole Palmer passes the ball to Noni Madueke who cuts in and delivers a finish with his left foot in the bottom corner to equal the score at 1.

With more then 30 minutes to play the game seemed like it would be a Chelsea comeback victory.

Tempers started to flare as James Ward-Prowse was sent off with a double yellow after stopping a counter attack with his hands.

With countless of attacks coming from Chelsea the winner seemed inevitable, however it never came.

The game ended 1-1 with many golden opportunities from both sides to grab the 3 points. Both of the goalies made great saves to keep their teams in it.

In the last few minutes both teams saw opportunity at goal as Forest’s Nico Williams had a shot at goal that was saved by Robert Sanchez. Directly after that Mykhaylo Mudryk sends a cross towards Christopher Nkunku’s head that was point blank saved by Matz Sels.

The final whistle was blown.

There’s positives to be seen from both sides.

Nottingham Forest can be delighted to take points away from another top Premier League side away from home. They have shown the league what to expect when they go against them. A tough low block with the chance to counter at any given time, this shouldn’t be a surprise as this team gives heavy shades of the Wolves team that Santos also was the coach of. They will for sure not be in a relegation battle like they were in last year.

For Chelsea, even though they didn’t come out with the 3 points, this isn’t a result to hold their heads down on. The team showed spirit and fight. Passion for the badge that many fans were crying for. Players like Levi Cowill fought for the badge as they stood up for each other after every tackle and call. This team does feel like somewhat of the Chelsea of old with the grit and intensity of teams from the past and that’s always a positive for the Blues.

With the International break on the way it’ll be good for both teams to reflect and improve for what so far has been a successful season for both of them