Chelsea produced yet another below-par performance as Nottingham Forest picked up a crucial point in their survival push with a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge.
Forest’s bid to stay in the Premier League has been centred on their home form, with just one League win away from home all season, but that record counted for very little when coupled with a Chelsea side continuing to look all at sea.
🥶#CheNfo pic.twitter.com/VXCdLy7INR
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) May 13, 2023
Both Taiwo Awoniyi and Raheem Sterling netted braces at Stamford Bridge, as Forest earned a draw that leaves them three points clear of the bottom three and the Blues stumbled to a result that further emphasises their desperation for the season to to finish.
We keep fighting. Until the end ❤️ pic.twitter.com/ur0j4GXzaF
— Nottingham Forest (@NFFC) May 13, 2023
Edouard Mendy started for the first time since Frank Lampard’s return to the club, and he played a major role in the visitors taking the lead. A hopeful cross was sent into the box, Mendy came flying off his line, got nowhere near the ball and left his goal unmanned as Awoniyi nodded home.
Chelsea offered very little until a seven-minute spell after the break first got them level and then saw them edge in front. Trevoh Chalobah got in behind on the right and cut the ball back for Raheem Sterling, who provided the finish with the help of a deflection.
He needed no assistance for his second, as he cut inside after being played through by Ruben Loftus-Cheek and fired a strike beyond Keylor Navas and into the far corner, to raise the prospect of Chelsea winning at home for the first time in Lampard’s second spell in charge.
Within four minutes though, they had been pegged back. Chelsea half-cleared the danger, but Orel Mangala lobbed the ball back into the box and Awoniyi was once again there to beat Mendy with a header that proved to be enough for Forest fans to leave Stamford Bridge with real belief that they will be back next season.
