Hall to start?
Team news coming up in the next five minutes or so.
Lewis Hall in the building with the Chelsea squad, and he could well be given a rare start this afternoon with Ben Chilwell and Marc Cucurella out.
We will soon find out…
Tough run to come
If Chelsea are to add to their points tally before the end of the season, you feel it probably has to come this afternoon.
Man City away, Man United away, Newcastle at home. Not exactly an appealing fixture list to close off the season…
As it stands, 11th in the table looks about as good as it’s going to get for Chelsea. Could get worse than that though.
Lampard: Chelsea playing for pride
Frank Lampard says Chelsea will “play for pride” for the remainder of their dismal Premier League campaign but insists his side have not given thought to their potential role as kingmakers at both ends of the table.
The Blues host struggling Nottingham Forest this afternoon, with Steve Cooper’s side just three points clear of the bottom three, and then travel to leaders Manchester City next Sunday, with Lampard the last visiting manager to pick up a point at the Etihad after his Everton side drew there on New Year’s Eve.
Chelsea then round off their season with back-to-back games against Newcastle and Manchester United, with both teams trying to hold off a resurgent Liverpool in the battle for Champions League qualification.
“Not in that context,” Lampard said, when asked if he had discussed the situation with his players. “We play for pride in every game no matter what the consequences for anybody else. It’s our consequences that we are concerned about.”
A Chelsea win would also do a favour to Lampard’s former club Everton, who are a place lower in 17th and have the daunting task of taking on City on Sunday.
“Everton’s fate is in their own hands at this point,” Lampard said. “It’s not in my concerns. I lived that life last year and I have a lot of connection to the club and the year that I had there was a real enjoyable time for me.
“As much as I’ll support them from afar, it’s not in my concern as Chelsea manager, but of course I hope they get the job done because I know what that feeling is.”
Last time they met
These two sides met at the start of 2023 at the City Ground, and it finished level.
Graham Potter was in Chelsea dugout and his side took the lead through Raheem Sterling, but Serge Aurier earned a point for Forest. They’d be delighted with the same result this afternoon!
Elsewhere in the Premier League…
Forest’s relegation rivals Leeds are currently level with Newcastle, 1-1 heading into half-time. Patrick Bamford missed a penalty to put the hosts two goals up, before Callum Wilson equalised from the spot a couple of minutes later.
That result wouldn’t be enough to lift Leeds out of the relegation zone. Everton host Man City tomorrow, while Leicester welcome Liverpool to the King Power on Monday night. Going down to the wire!
Todd Boehly prepares major change
Chelsea will disband their loan army as part of a revamped player development strategy at Stamford Bridge.
The move will bring an end to an approach under Roman Abramovich which saw the club accused of stockpiling young players and abusing the loan system.
At its peak in 2019, Chelsea had 41 players out on loan. Many players were sent on multiple loans with no real prospect of ever playing for the first team. But under the new strategy, led by sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart, only players viewed as genuine first-team prospects will be sent out on overseas loans.
If Chelsea feel a player is not benefiting from the programme or is not in the plans of the manager, the club will look to sell them on.
The move is partly a response to new FIFA regulations, which will limit clubs to sending out seven players on oversees loans from next season.
Read the full story on that here
Standard Sport prediction
While this game inevitably means much more to Forest and the fierce fight to avoid relegation, their away form all season makes them incredibly hard to back on the road.
Chelsea to win, 2-0.
Nottingham Forest team news
For Forest, Dean Henderson, Chris Wood, Scott McKenna and Omar Richards are all out. Danilo, however, has returned to fitness.
Giulian Biancone, Neco Williams and Emmanuel Dennis are also sidelined, though Renan Lodi is expected to be available and there are late tests for the likes of Serge Aurier, Jonjo Shelvey, Gustavo Scarpa and Jack Colback.
Chelsea team news
Frank Lampard is fearful that Ben Chilwell could miss the rest of the season, with Reece James and Mason Mount also unlikely to play again this campaign.
Wesley Fofana is back but Marc Cucurella, Armando Broja and Marcus Bettinelli are all still out, while the game comes too soon for Kalidou Koulibaly.
It means Lewis Hall could be handed a start at left-back, with the Chelsea boss confirming that the 18-year-old academy graduate is “in the running”.
“Lewis has a chance,” Lampard said. “I’ve been really impressed with his training. He’s a very good player, a really talented player and if there’s one thing he needs to come out of himself that bit more and trust how good he is. He’s in the running for the last four games to be involved.”
Predicted Chelsea XI: Kepa; Chalobah, Silva, Badiashile, Hall; Fernandez, Kante, Gallagher; Madueke, Havertz, Mudryk.
