Ahead of Monday afternoon's Premier League matchday 35 clash with Nottingham Forest, here is all you need to know on the side visiting West London
In a lesser spotted Monday 15:00 BST kick off, Chelsea will welcome Nottingham Forest for round 35 of the Premier League season, with the Blues still hopeful of sneaking into the UEFA Champions League places.
So, what do we need to know about our visitors?
It has been a very weird season for Forest so far. They are currently on their fourth permanent manager of the season. Nuno Espirito Santo, who guided the club to a European finish last season, was sacked after just three games of the season.
He was then replaced by Ange Postecoglou, who only lasted eight games in charge, the final one of which was a 3-0 defeat to Chelsea in the reverse fixture back in October.
The Australian was then himself replaced by Sean Dyche, who made a positive start but soon tailed off, and he was relieved of his duties in mid February, after a 0-0 draw at home to Wolves.
Then, he was replaced by Vitor Pereira, who has kept his job till date, and is doing a good job. Last week, Forest defeated Sunderland 5-0 at the Stadium of Light, taking them up to 39 points, and within a very good chance of staying up.
Furthermore, Pereira has guided Forest to the Europa League semi finals, after defeating Fenerbahce, Midtjylland, and Porto along the way. They also beat fellow Premier League side Aston Villa 1-0 at home in the semi final first leg.
With the second leg on the horizon this Thursday, there is a fairly strong possibility that the East Midlands side rotate key players in SW6 tomorrow afternoon. It is in Chelsea's interests for Forest to be knocked out by Villa, as sixth place would get Champions League football if Villa win the Europa (and finish top five themselves)
We may see the likes of Morgan Gibbs-White, who has scored 13 Premier League goals this season - more than any Chelsea player apart from Joao Pedro - and Elliot Anderson, who has been linked to Chelsea and most notably Manchester City, rested for this game. Let's hope so anyway.
There are other dangerous players in their team, however. Winger Omari Hutchinson spent two years contracted to Chelsea between 2022 and 2024. He has been playing on the right hand side of Pereira's lopsided 442 in recent weeks.
The two strikers in this set up have been Chris Wood, who picked up an injury in the reverse fixture and only made his comeback a few weeks ago, and Brazilian international Igor Jesus. Then, on the left side is Gibbs-White, who takes up any opportunity to drift inside.
In defence, Forest boast Cobham graduate Ola Aina, who has been very consistent for them over the past few years. He will be the only Chelsea academy player potentially on the pitch for Forest here, with Callum Hudson-Odoi unfortunately picking up a season ending injury a couple of weeks ago.
If, and it is certainly an if, Pereira goes full strength for this one, it will be a very hard game indeed. Forest have won all of their last four games, scoring 11 times and conceding just once. In the five games prior to that they won two and drew three times, making it six wins and three draws from their last nine games.
Safe to say, if they make that ten games unbeaten, Chelsea's chances of securing that sixth place position will take a big dent. Let's see.
Join the Community
Don't miss out on our ROUNDTABLE community and the latest news!
It's completely free to join. Share your thoughts, engage with our Roundtable writers, and chat with fellow members.
Download the free Roundtable APP, and stay even more connected!