Ninety-Eight Seconds. Done.
Awoniyi scored inside two minutes. Stamford Bridge had barely settled.
Fifteen minutes later — Igor Jesus from the spot. 2-0. Chelsea were gone.
Cole Palmer missed a penalty before half-time. Sels saved it. Easily. The kind of penalty that tells you everything about where a team’s head is at.
Awoniyi got his second in the 52nd minute. 3-0. Empty seats started appearing in the home end. The boos at full time were loud. Not surprising.
João Pedro scored a bicycle kick in the 90th minute. It was brilliant. It meant nothing. Chelsea lost 3-1. Sixth consecutive Premier League defeat. Nine hours without a Premier League goal before that overhead kick landed.
Liam Rosenior had already been sacked before this game. Interim boss Calum McFarlane watched from the touchline. He saw nothing that would give him confidence.
How It Fell Apart in 15 Minutes
Awoniyi headed in a Bakwa cross inside 98 seconds. The far post. Clean. Forest were pressing from the first whistle and Chelsea had no answer.
The second came from a penalty. Malo Gusto pulled Awoniyi’s shirt in the box. Clear foul. Igor Jesus put it away. 2-0 in 15 minutes.
Chelsea tried to respond. A penalty of their own came just before half-time after a nasty clash of heads between debutant Jesse Derry and Zach Abbott. Both went down. Derry — 18 years old, his first appearance — spent over ten minutes on the pitch receiving treatment before being stretchered off to hospital. Awful scenes.
Palmer stepped up with the score at 2-0. A chance to halve the deficit. He sent it weakly to Sels’ left. Sels saved it without difficulty. Palmer turned away. Stamford Bridge groaned.
Half-time: 0-2. Chelsea’s worst first half of the season.
The Second Half Was an Insult
Awoniyi finished a flowing move in the 52nd minute. Gibbs-White found him in the box. Tap-in. 3-0. Forest were comfortable, professional, completely in control.
Chelsea chased. Enzo Fernández tried. Caicedo and Caicedo were both booked in the 78th minute in quick succession — frustration boiling over. Nothing was working.
João Pedro got the goal in the 90th. Cucurella found him. His first shot was saved but he redirected the rebound with an overhead kick. Stunning technique. First Premier League goal in almost six matches — nine hours of league football without scoring. The celebration was hollow. The result was not changing.
Plenty of empty seats by the time the whistle came. The fans who stayed booed. Cannot blame them.
The Numbers Are Damning
Six consecutive Premier League defeats. Nine hours without a league goal before Monday. Sacked manager. Interim in charge. FA Cup final still to come against Manchester City — but the league season is a disaster.
Chelsea have spent more than £2 billion on players over the past four years. Right now they sit ninth. Forest — who had four different managers this season alone — came to Stamford Bridge, rested players for their Europa League semi-final second leg on Thursday, and still won 3-1.
Matz Sels said after the game Forest are “almost there” in terms of survival. Six points clear of the drop zone now with three games left. The Europa League semi-final at Aston Villa is next. If Forest get through that and win the tournament, they go to the Champions League. From fighting relegation. In the same season.
Vitor Pereira is their fourth manager of the campaign. Seven games unbeaten in the league. Three wins in a row. That is not chaos anymore. That is momentum.
Chelsea’s mess is their own. No one else’s fault.
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Chelsea 1-3 Nottingham Forest Premier League Matchday 35 | Monday, 4 May 2026 | Stamford Bridge | Referee: Anthony Taylor
Goals: Awoniyi 2′, 52′ | Igor Jesus 15′ pen (FOR) | João Pedro 90+3′ (CHE) Saved penalty: Cole Palmer (39′, saved by Sels) Bookings: Gusto (CHE) | Caicedo, Caicedo (CHE, 78′)
Chelsea XI: Sanchez | Gusto, Chalobah, Tosin, Cucurella | Lavia, Caicedo | Palmer, Fernández, Derry | João Pedro Subs: Delap (for Derry, injured), Neco Williams (for Abbott concussion sub)
Forest XI: Sels | Abbott, Cunha, Morato, Netz | McAteer, Dominguez | Yates, Bakwa | Igor Jesus, Awoniyi Subs: Williams (concussion sub for Abbott)
HT: 0-2 | FT: 1-3 Table: Chelsea 9th (48 pts) | Nottingham Forest — 6 pts clear of relegation.
