Chelsea lost at home for the first time under manager Mauricio Pochettino after Nottingham Forest substitute Antony Elanga scored the only goal in the game to hand Steve Cooper’s side their first win at Stamford Bridge since 1995.
Chelsea started the game the better side but even then, it was hard to see where the goals would come from. Nottingham Forest defended well for large parts of the game and scored when striker Taiwo Awoniyi robbed Moises Caicedo of the ball and played in former Manchester United forward Elanga to pass the ball into the net.
Mauricio Pochettino had to withdraw his captain Ben Chilwell for the seond game running early in the second half as he looked to get his team back to it.
In came Noni Madueke who impressed in mid-week and would have been disappointed to have started the game from the bench, and also introduced Cole Palmer for his debut.
What that meant was that Raheem Sterling had to alternate between playing on the left side and also helping through centrally. He was Chelsea’s only threat all game. Cole Palmer then played just behind Nicolas Jackson as Chelsea pressed for the equaliser on a sunny Saturday afternoon at Stamford Bridge.
After spending almost £1billion on the team in the last three transfer windows, Mauricio Pochettino then brought on Ian Maatsen for Moises Caicedo and January signing Mykhailo Mudryk for Malo Gusto.
Chelsea upped the tempo in search of an equaliser but it was nothing sustained. Chelsea were unbeaten in nine meetings against Nottingham Forest so it was throwing the kitchen sink stuff at Forest who were happy to sit deep and occasionally take advantage on the counterattack.
In the end, they were worth their win, the first in 14 attempts away from home against the Blues. Here is how we rated every Chelsea player out there.
1. Robert Sanchez - 5
His foot work still needs a lot of work but look assured with aerial balls. Not at fault for the goal.
2. Ben Chilwell -3
Very poor and got hooked early in the second half.
3. Conor Gallagher-5
Has had a strong start to the season but not even he could rescue Chelsea.
4. Enzo Fernandez 5
Quiet start to the game and then had a shot from close range where he should have done better.