Nottingham Forest withstood a late Chelsea onslaught with 10 players to gain a priceless Premier League point in a 1-1 draw on a pulsating afternoon in London.
A goalless first half gave way to a frenetic second as Chris Wood met Nikola Milenkovic’s downward header from a James Ward-Prowse free-kick to give Forest the lead four minutes after the restart.
Chelsea responded emphatically as Noni Madueke collected Cole Palmer’s pass to drift inside and find the bottom corner to restore parity (57).
Ward-Prowse’s cynical handball to prevent a goalscoring opportunity deservedly led to him being sent off for the second time in his career at Stamford Bridge (78).
Forest struck first through Chris Wood at Stamford Bridge
Chelsea probed for a winner as Palmer was denied quite brilliantly by a Matz Sels double save before both benches almost came to blows following a tangle between Marc Cucurella and Neco Williams which saw Enzo Maresca tumble on the touchline.
Virtually all 22 players plus substitutes were involved in the disorder. Forest dug deep through 13 added minutes and a glaring miss from Joao Felix to snatch a point their performance deserved.
Williams might have even scored a late winner himself when he stung the gloves of Robert Sanchez before Sels kept out Christopher Nkunku’s header from Mykhailo Mudryk’s cross.
The result means Chelsea remain in fourth on 14 points with Forest four points behind and stationed in 10th heading into the international break. For the second time this season the hosts were shown six yellow cards meaning they will likely face a fine.
Chelsea hauled themselves level against Forest
“I think the team is fighting all together,” said Maresca. “I don’t think some of them lost their heads, I think they were all of them in the game, so I was happy with that.
Asked whether he feared his team had a discipline problem, he replied: “No. It’s something probably we need to improve, but overall I like the team the way they are fighting, the way they are becoming a team in these kind of things. I don’t see any problem about that.
“Now we have the international break, we have time to see how we can organise.”
How Forest went toe-to-toe with Chelsea
A second-half melee sparked a pulsating denouement
Brighton played with a very high line last week and Chelsea took full advantage – but Nottingham Forest sat much deeper and those gaps rarely appeared during a cagey first half.
It took until the 42nd minute for the hosts to have their first shot on target as Enzo Fernandez drew a routine save from Sels after Madueke’s shot across goal was parried into his path.
Murillo had gone closest to breaking the deadlock at that stage after intercepting a Fernandez pass to draw a smart save from Sanchez.
Forest took the lead in routine fashion from a set-piece
Both sides threatened to find the opener on the stroke of half-time as Madueke’s cutback was met by Palmer but his effort through a sea of bodies eventually struck the post before being clawed to safety on the goal line by Sels.
Forest were by no means overawed by their in-form opponents – and following the two quickfire second-half goals, it was they who threatened a winner just as much as Chelsea in spite of Ward-Prowse’s mindless sending off.
The touchline fracas lit the blue touch paper for a Sunday slugfest in the closing stages. Colwill and Williams came to blows in the aftermath of Cucurella tumbling into his manager Maresca as tensions boiled over.
Chelsea and Nottingham Forest played out a feisty draw
Palmer’s deft touch presented him with the chance to score but Sels was twice equal to his efforts. Then it was Sanchez’s turn to justify his No 1 status with a sublime save to claw away Williams’ drive – and he was again called into action when Jota Silva met Ola Aina’s cross to drag the ball away from almost behind him.
Espirito Santo said: “It was a very good game of football. The type of game that everybody enjoys, that’s for sure. It’s positive as it’s always very hard to come here and play. It’s a big team effort and the players did that.
“We had good possession in the first half and the second half was a crazy game with both goalkeepers making huge saves. We had one man less, there was mass confusion, yellow cards. It had everything. Both teams [could have won it].”
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Nottingham Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo discusses Forest’s disciplinary issues this season with the FA and calls for match officials to be more understanding with his side.
Player of the match – Matz Sels
Matz Sels was outstanding on the day for Forest
Nottingham Forest striker Chris Wood:
“We had chances to win it. I think we nullified them to a lot of things. Matz Sels was unbelievable in goal, made some great saves, kept us in the game and gave us the chance to win the game. That’s what we’re about, fighting to win.
“We know they’re a good side, coming to the Bridge will always be a tough occasion. It shows the resilience we’re trying to deliver and we want to continue and go bigger in the future and rise up the table. We want to be competing in the top half of the table and beyond. We take the positives and move on.
“It’s always nice to be scoring the goals. It was nice to give us the lead, it would be nice to be three points rather than one.
“We want to bring these results to the City Ground, but it’s nothing to panic about. we’re playing good football and doing extremely well and it will click at home, there’s no doubt about it.”
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Jamie O’Hara praised Nottingham Forest’s Matz Sels for his late heroics against Chelsea.
Could Jackson face retrospective action?
Enzo Maresca was all smiles after Noni Madueke’s leveller
During the fracas, which broke out in the 88th minute in front of the Chelsea dugout, Nicolas Jackson appeared to raise his hand to the face of a Forest player, an incident that was not spotted either by the on-field referee or VAR but could yet see action brought against the striker retrospectively.
Jackson was not on the pitch, having been substituted in the 81st minute.
“In that moment not only Nicholas was inside the pitch,” said Maresca in the player’s defence. “If you look there were more players from the bench inside the pitch.
“If you ask if I prefer when something like that happens, players from outside are involved or not, I like the spirit of the team. I don’t see any problem.
“There are things we can control and do better and probably this is one of the things. But if you ask me about the team spirit, the way they are fighting together, the way they are doing things together, I’m very happy.”
Nuno’s fine away record – Opta stats
Only Frank Clark (59) has picked up more away points as manager of Nottingham Forest in the Premier League than Nuno Espírito Santo. Forest’s draw takes Nuno’s away points total with the Tricky Trees to 19 (P14 W5 D4 L5), one more than Brian Clough
- James Ward-Prowse’s red card for Nottingham Forest was his third in the Premier League in 385 matches, with two of those three red cards coming against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge – October 2021 & today.
- 10 of Chris Wood’s last 14 goals for Nottingham Forest in the Premier League have been scored away from home (71.4 per cent), this comes after all of his first five goals for the club in the competition were scored at home.
- Only Bryan Roy (24) and Stan Collymore (22) have scored more Premier League goals for Nottingham Forest than Chris Wood (19), while Wood’s 10 away goals in the competition is the joint-most of any player for the Tricky Trees along with Bryan Roy (10).
- Chelsea’s Cole Palmer created 6 chances against Nottingham Forest, only creating more in the Premier League on one previous occasion – 8 v Manchester United in April 2024. This is the fifth time that Palmer has created 5+ chances in a Premier League match.
