Chelsea will look to climb into the top four on Saturday lunchtime as they travel to the City Ground to take on struggling Nottingham Forest.
Enzo Maresca appeared to be under a bit of pressure as he saw his side endure a disappointing September in which they won just one of their five matches, with that coming in a narrow 1-2 win at League One side Lincoln City in the League Cup.
That run saw them lose their Champions League opener at Bayern, beaten away at Manchester United and at home to Brighton, and conceded a stoppage-time equaliser to draw 2-2 at Brentford in the Premier League.
However, the Italian relieved the pressure on himself by firstly beating Jose Mourinho’s Benfica 1-0 at Stamford Bridge in the Champions League, before a stoppage-time winner from Brazilian Estevao saw The Blues defeat champions Liverpool 2-1.
However, one man who remains under serious pressure is Ange Postecoglou, with the ex-Spurs manager failing to win any of his seven matches in charge at the City Ground.
Last time out, Forest were beaten 2-0 at St James’ Park by Newcastle – on an afternoon where both of my selections landed – leaving the Tricky Trees only one place and one point above the relegation zone.
How the bookies view it: Chelsea favourites
Despite dropping points in each of their previous two Premier League contests on the road, Chelsea have been installed as favourites here, with BoyleSports pricing an away victory at 10/11.
Forest are 13/5 at the same firm to get their first win under Ange Postecoglou, whilst the draw is 11/4.
Head to head: Blues advantage
Since Forest’s promotion back to the Premier League in 2022, Chelsea have lost just one of the six meetings between the pair, winning on each of their last two visits to the City Ground.
Players to watch: Estevao to excite again?
Estevao proved to be the hero last time out, as his back-post finish gave Chelsea a dramatic injury-time winner against champions Liverpool.
The ex-Palmeiras youngster also provided an assist in their 1-5 thrashing of West Ham at the London Stadium earlier in the campaign – and with Cole Palmer missing – the onus will be on the Brazilian to create, and I like the look of the 11/10 at Bet365 for him to Score or Assist here.
Predicted line-ups:
Nottingham Forest are expected to be without the injured trio of Douglas Luiz, Oleksandr Zinchenko and ex-Blues defender Ola Aina.
Chelsea still appear to have a lengthy injury list, with defenders Levi Colwill, Wesley Fofana and Tosin all missing, as well as Cole Palmer, Liam Delap and Dario Essugo.
Nottingham Forest: Sels, Morato, Filho, Milenkovic, Savona, Anderson, Yates, Williams, Gibbs-White, Ndoye, Wood
Chelsea: Sanchez, Gusto, James, Hato, Cucurella, Lavia, Caicedo, Neto, Fernandez, Estevao, Pedro
Anything else catch the eye?
After a tough September, The Blues headed into the international break with a couple of crucial wins over Benfica and Liverpool, with the latter especially giving them a confidence boost.
Forest, on the other hand, were poor once again at St James’ Park last time out, and continue to leak goals, with them yet to record a single clean sheet in any of their opening 10 matches in all competitions this term, shipping multiple goals in seven (70%) of them.
Chelsea have found the back of the net in each of their last six Premier League outings – notching 2+ goals in four (67%) of them – and a repeat pays an appealing 4/5 at Bet365
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