Another superb win for Nottingham Forest edged them closer to safety – and condemned Chelsea to their longest Premier League losing run in over 30 years.
Our Scout Notes from Stamford Bridge look back on the key Fantasy talking points from the match.
We start, as usual, with some injury updates – and there was plenty to wade through.
GIBBS-WHITE + SANCHEZ INJURY UPDATES AS FOUR FORCED OFF
Firstly, the on-field casualties. Unusually, we had four players come off with head/facial injuries across two separate incidents.
In the undercard, FPL-wise, teenagers Jesse Derry (£4.5m) and Zach Abbott (£3.8m) had a sickening clash of heads, with the former coming off worse. Winger Derry, making his first Chelsea start, was taken to hospital after on-field treatment, but mercifully the prognosis sounds positive.
Then, after the break, another horrible collision that had a lot more Fantasy implications. Substitute Morgan Gibbs-White (£7.7m) and Robert Sanchez (£4.8m) met head-on, with both players again taken off after physio attention.
If any of these four players suffered a concussion, it would rule them out of Gameweek 36. However, Vitor Pereira was confident that Gibbs-White’s injury was merely facial.
“I am waiting. I am not a doctor.
“Gibbs-White has a deep cut. We will see, but he is a fighter. He is a fighter, he has a strong mentality. I hope our medical department can do magic to put him in conditions because he is important for us. A very important player for us. I said to him, ‘You do not need to use the head. You do not need to head the balls, just to play.’ We will see. We will see.
“About Zach, I spoke with him in the dressing room and I think he is okay. He is okay.” – Vitor Pereira on Morgan Gibbs-White and Zach Abbott
“No, no. I had the conversation. I think not because I had the conversation with him. He is completely speaking normally. He remembers everything. The only thing is to look for the face and the pain, because he has pains now. We will see. We will see.” – Vitor Pereira on if Morgan Gibbs-White is concussed
Interim Chelsea boss Calum McFarlane also sounded upbeat on Sanchez.
“We’re hearing positive signs from Jesse and Rob [Sanchez] and I hope the Nottingham Forest players are okay as well.” – Calum McFarlane
In a timely recovery from injury, back-up goalkeeper Filip Jörgensen (£4.3m) made his return to the squad after two months out. He came on for Sanchez.
WHY GARNACHO + NETO MISSED OUT
Derry was likely only making a start because Chelsea had all four senior wingers out.
Alejandro Garnacho (£6.4m) and Pedro Neto (£7.0m) became the latest additions to the injury list after training on Sunday.
“They took knocks, yes. Knocks in training yesterday.” – Calum McFarlane on Pedro Neto and Alejandro Garnacho
AINA AMONG SEVERAL FOREST NO-SHOWS
Ola Aina (£4.7m), Ibrahima Sangare (£4.9m), Murillo (£5.2m) and Dan Ndoye (£5.5m) meanwhile failed to recover from injury to feature for the Tricky Trees.
“They are injured. I do not know if they [will recover]…
“Look – without Callum [Hudson-Odoi], without Dan Ndoye, two wingers. Without Murillo. Before, without Jair Cunha, because Jair was [injured], and he still has the problem, but he is a fighter. He is a fighter. Without Sangaré.
“In the end, for me, it was not difficult to select the first 11. It was not, because I do not have solutions. If I do not have solutions, I do not need to think a lot. And in the end, we are doing well because of the spirit.
“And without Ola! Without Ola. I forgot, I do not remember how many players!” – Vitor Pereira
PEREIRA EXPLAINS EIGHT CHANGES
Vitor Pereira has saved most of his tinkering for Europe this season but he went rotation-crazy for the first time in the Premier League, making eight changes from Thursday’s UEFA Europa League win over Aston Villa.
Even two of the three players who kept their places are glorified second-stringers, namely Morato (£4.3m) and Nicolas Dominguez (£5.0m).
Gibbs-White, Elliot Anderson (£5.6m), Nikola Milenkovic (£5.1m) and Neco Williams (£4.8m) were introduced after 45 minutes, with Chris Wood (£7.1m) coming on a bit later.
“I know very well my players. I work every day with them. I did the same when we went to Midtjylland and they performed very well. I remember the game against FC Porto. Playing in the Dragão Stadium is not easy, and they showed personality, they showed quality. For me, I tried to balance the energy of this team. We have, in this moment of the season, some injuries. If I had more players, I could change more players, but it was not possible. I decided, ‘Okay, I will try to give 45 minutes’, because 45 minutes, we can recover. We can recover in the next three days to be fit for the game against Aston Villa.
“But in the end, I said to my players, I can change you, I can change the players, but I will not change, for sure, the spirit of this team. And this team is resilient. This team, they are playing with confidence. They are playing united, with organisation and ambition to win the games. And we came here not to draw. We came here to try to win the game.” – Vitor Pereira
PEDRO STUNNER BUT PALMER + CHELSEA TOIL
When the teamsheets came out, many assumed this was going to be a procession to victory for Chelsea.
The Blues had stopped the rot with an FA Cup semi-final win over Leeds United, and the departure of Liam Rosenior had raised the hope of a late-season upswing.
That bubble was soon pricked after two minutes, when Dilane Bakwa (£5.9m) and Taiwo Awoniyi (£5.2m) combined for Forest’s opener. These are two players well down the pecking order under Pereira, remember.
The Tricky Trees only had six shots all game, but they still amounted to a higher xG (according to Statsbomb) than Chelsea’s mostly low-quality 21 efforts. That included a penalty apiece: one dispatched by Igor Jesus (£5.9m), in the absence of Wood and Gibbs-White, the other missed by the disappointing Cole Palmer (£10.4m). Another sub-par showing from him.
“I think the first 15 minutes was unacceptable. The manner in which the two goals were conceded has really set us back. It gave ourselves a mountain to climb. You can’t do that at this level, especially against a team that’s fighting for their life.” – Calum McFarlane
Awoniyi tapped in Gibbs-White’s cross to make it 3-0, and Chelsea couldn’t respond with even one shot in the subsequent 20 minutes. A late blitz of efforts, culminating in a superb injury-time bicycle kick from Joao Pedro (£7.5m), couldn’t mask the latest in a long line of limp showings.
Pedro still showed his eye for goal; he had earlier found the back of the net for a strike disallowed for offside.
And Enzo Fernandez (£6.5m) was up there as the pick of the Chelsea players, which admittedly isn’t saying much at all. He had scored twice in three previous games under McFarlane and seems to be enjoying greater attacking license, topping the pile for both shots (five) and chances created (seven) on Monday.
Above: Enzo’s seven chances created
Those dozen actions ultimately amounted to just 0.44 xGI, but he hit the post with one of his efforts and was the likeliest source of inspiration.
THURSDAY TO DICTATE FOREST’S RUN-IN?
It’s difficult to read too much into Forest’s performance, as this was a reserve team that Pereira sent out. What you would say is that the squad, to a man, is responding brilliantly to their new manager, just as Wolves’ players did last season. They’re now on a 10-match unbeaten run in all competitions, with the second string contributing majorly (Porto, Midtjylland and now Chelsea) in that time.
So, what sort of team will Pereira send out in Gameweek 36?
Two things might dictate that: a) the result of Thursday’s Europa League semi-final and b) the outcome of West Ham v Arsenal on Saturday.
If the Hammers lose (they play a day before Pereira’s troops in Gameweek 36), Forest are all but safe thanks to the goal difference:
And a Forest aggregate victory on Thursday would only increase the likelihood of seeing the likes of Luca Netz (£4.5m), James McAtee (£5.0m) and Awoniyi in the starting XI in Gameweeks 36-38.
Remember, the Europa League final falls between the final two Gameweeks:
