LONDON (AP) — Chelsea slumped to a sixth straight Premier League defeat and saw its Champions League qualification hopes virtually disappear after losing to Nottingham Forest 3-1 on Monday.
Taiwo Awoniyi scored two either side of earning a penalty converted by fellow striker Igor Jesus, inspiring a heavily rotated Forest to the brink of safety. Forest was six points above the relegation zone with three rounds left.
Joao Pedro’s overhead kick in second-half stoppage time ended Chelsea’s scoreless run in the league stretching back almost two months but proved to be only a consolation.
On a humiliating day for the London club and interim coach Calum McFarlane, Cole Palmer had a penalty saved in a 14-minute period of first-half stoppage time — required after 18-year-old Chelsea winger Jesse Derry, making his first Premier League start, needed lengthy treatment following a clash of heads with Forest’s Zach Abbott at a corner.
Both had to leave the field, Derry on a stretcher as Stamford Bridge fell quiet and his teammates looked concerned.
Reaching the FA Cup final last week has failed to rouse Chelsea’s players, who were booed by their own fans at halftime and fulltime, amid their dreadful run of form in the league that has plunged the team to ninth place and out of contention for a top-five finish.
Sixth place could yet earn qualification for the Champions League, but only in the specific scenario of Aston Villa — currently in fifth place — finishing in that position and also winning the Europa League. Chelsea is four points behind sixth-placed Bournemouth.
Villa is 1-0 down to Forest after the first leg of Europa League semifinals. The second leg is at Villa Park on Thursday, prompting Forest manager Vitor Pereira to field virtually a second-choice lineup that still had too much for Chelsea.
In-form playmaker Morgan Gibbs-White was one of Forest’s top players starting on the bench. He came on, set up Awoniyi for the third goal in the 52nd minute, and then was forced off with a bandage around his head after a clash of heads with Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez, who also had to be substituted.
Later Monday, second-placed Manchester City visited Everton needing a win to restore its three-point deficit to Arsenal in the title race.
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