Chelsea will be desperately seeking a return to winning ways when they host Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Monday.
Though they beat Leeds United 1-0 in the FA Cup semi-final last weekend, the Blues are enduring a five-game losing streak in the Premier League without scoring a goal — most recently going down 3-0 at Brighton in Liam Rosenior’s last game in charge.
Chelsea predicted lineup vs Nottingham Forest
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Sanchez; Gusto, Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Lavia, Caicedo; Neto, Fernandez, Palmer; Joao Pedro.
Despite their poor league form, Chelsea had a major boost in confidence as they overcame Leeds at Wembley last time out, marking a strong start to Calum McFarlane’s second spell as interim manager. They take on a Forest side on a high themselves, unbeaten in their last nine across all competitions and having beaten Aston Villa 1-0 in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final last time out. The Tricky Trees have won their last two Premier League matches by a 9-1 combined scoreline.
Chelsea team news vs Nottingham Forest
Chelsea come into this match with a shortage of depth on the wings, with Estevao out for a couple more weeks and Jamie Gittens not quite ready to return, both due to hamstring injuries.
Reece James also has a hamstring problem, but McFarlane has said he is ‘looking good’ and could return to the squad here.
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Levi Colwill is closing in on his return to action after a lengthy ACL layoff, while back-up goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen could also return to the bench.
With an eight-day break between the FA Cup semi-final and this match, McFarlane is unlikely to rotate for fitness reasons in this match, especially with Chelsea sinking mid-table and needing a win to stay in touch with sixth — which may yet yield Champions League football in Aston Villa win the Europa League.
Calum McFarlane issues rallying call ahead of Stamford Bridge debut
Monday brings a unique challenge for McFarlane, who finally gets to take charge of a Chelsea match at Stamford Bridge.
The 40-year-old’s three previous matches at the helm of the Blues have all been either away from home or on neutral ground, with Chelsea travelling to Manchester City and Fulham under his leadership in January, along with that Wembley semi-final last week.
The Bridge hasn’t been a happy home recently amid a wretched campaign for the Blues. However, McFarlane is still looking forward to finally manning the home dugout as the man in charge, and has called upon the supporters to back his players.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” McFarlane said in his pre-match press conference. “We’ve got a really tough game as Nottingham Forest are a really good side. We’ll be well prepared for it, but it will be a great honour to lead a game at Stamford Bridge.
“Obviously, I’ve been involved in games at Stamford Bridge as part of the backroom staff. It might have a different feel leading the team, but it will be a great honour in front of the Chelsea fans, and we’ll be looking for a similar level of performance as we did at Wembley.”
The interim boss added: “We need the fans. We need the crowd to bring that positive energy, the right energy and get behind the team. We all want to do well for this club, and we know that there’s still a lot to play for – a cup final, and we can still qualify for the Champions League.
“We want to win every single game. We’ve got two more games at Stamford Bridge, and we want to win as many games as possible – and we need to.”