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Chelsea Prepare To Battle Nottingham Forest

It’s FA Cup Third Round weekend, and isn’t that just a great piece of information to soak in? It’s the one weekend of the year when all forms of logic in English football goes out of the window. Of course, you could argue that the same could be said of any other game across every single weekend up and down the Football League, but still. While some would argue it has lost some of its spark we’d still like to think that teams care about going far in this competition, and that’s the narrative that we’re choosing to stick with this year.

One game that provides us with a very realistic chance of an upset will take place at Stamford Bridge, as Chelsea prepare to host Nottingham Forest. While there’s certainly an argument to be made that the Blues should easily run away with this one, we wouldn’t be so sure. Both sides have been on the right and wrong ends of FA Cup upsets throughout the course of their respective histories, and that’s no exaggeration. There’s a lot on the line in this one, nad we’re excited to see how it plays out in front of what should be a strong travelling crowd from the visitors.

Chelsea have, of course, had a mixed start to the campaign to say the least. Maurizio Sarri certainly seems to be getting some great results out of his team, but it feels like we’re finally at the point where nobody can deny their desperate need for a goalscorer any longer. They’ve got strong forwards, but there are levels to this game. In terms of the FA Cup specifically it’d be a nice target for them to try and win it, especially given the fact that any hope of a Premier League title race is probably long gone.

After years and years of festering in the middle of the Championship or down in the third tier, it legitimately feels like this year could see Nottingham Forest finally force their way into the playoffs – and potentially even further. They’re a club rich with history both in the Premier League and in European competition, but they haven’t taken their seat the top table for quite some time now. One thing they do seem to have mastered, though, is picking up a result in a game where quite literally nobody is giving them a chance to win.

Chelsea’s last six game stretch has been mixed to say the least, playing into the idea that they’re getting a reputation for being a bit inconsistent. They kicked off with back to back wins over Brighton and Bournemouth, with the latter securing their place in the last four of the Carabao Cup. They then lost 1-0 to Leicester City which was slightly disappointing to say the least, before getting back to winning ways against Watford and Crystal Palace. Then, in yet another “wait, what?” moment, they could only manage a 0-0 draw against Southampton.

Nottingham Forest, on the other hand, have faltered in their push for the top four. Their six game stretch began with a 1-0 loss to Preston, before a 0-0 draw against local rivals Derby County. They then lost to Queens Park Rangers before putting up a great fight against Norwich, drawing 3-3. They then lost to Millwall (you can sense a pattern emerging here), before quite literally bursting into life against Leeds United with a 4-2 win. To call them unpredictable would be underselling the current state of their operations pretty dramatically, if you ask us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj1h8swGvek

Despite not playing in the same division for quite some time, Chelsea and Nottingham Forest have still locked horns plenty of times. The Blues lead the overall head to head standings 38-26 with 28 draws thrown in there too, with their very first meeting taking place way back in 1906. It wasn’t actually all too long ago that they last met, either, with Chelsea coming out on top 5-1 in a League Cup clash back in September 2017. Prior to that their meetings were quite sporadic (2007, 2000) – with Forest’s last win over Chelsea taking place in January 1997. Back then, they were in the Premier League right alongside them.

There are several absences for Maurizio Sarri ahead of this one with Willian, Giroud, Pedro and Hudson-Odoi all being sidelined – although you’d have to question how many of them would’ve started a game of this nature anyway. Cesc Fabregas could well have his ‘farewell’ match in this one, as he prepares to jet off to Ligue 1 to join Monaco. The likes of Ampadu, Emerson and Zappacosta have all been tipped for starts, with big changes being anticipated to fall in line with the idea that Chelsea need to start thinking about their priorities this season.

Michael Hefele will not be appearing in this one after being taken off against Leeds United. Forest have around five or six players currently out injured meaning that they may need to improvise with their team selection, although the hope is that the momentum from the Leeds win will carry through to this one. Ben Osborn played fantastically in that game and is expected to start the game against Chelsea, but aside from that, there should be a few surprises when it comes to the starting XI at Stamford Bridge. Regardless of the team selection, though, both teams will be very wary of the fact that this will be one of the most unpredictable games of their respective campaigns.

Chelsea vs Nottingham Forest Betting Prediction

We think this is going to be one of the games of the weekend, and Nottingham Forest are going to play a big role in that. As we’ve already noted the Blues have struggled in games that they were considered certainties to win, and we’re expecting the pressure of this one to get to them. We think Forest will race into an early lead after catching Chelsea off guard, and then just before half time, we’re legitimately anticipating a second goal for the visitors that will really start to worry the home crowd.

This is when Chelsea will start the fight back, but we still think it’ll take until the hour mark or so for them to really break Forest down. We think they’ll pull one back before scoring a second almost immediately, levelling things up. They’ll take full control of the game but we don’t think they’ll be able to get a third, forcing what is bound to be a frustrating replay.

This sounds a little bit over the top and many will think it isn’t even close to being realistic, but just consider how much Nottingham Forest will want this in comparison to a Chelsea side who have a lot on their plate.