Nottingham Forest 2-3 Chelsea: Four Blues that stood out

Chelsea nearly returned to square one after two straight games of multiple-goal wins and clean sheets when Nottingham Forest threatened to take all three points and secure a Premier League spot at the Blues' expense. 

Chelsea fans can thank Reece James, Raheem Sterling and Nicolas Jackson as Mauricio Pochettino’s men came back from behind to win the game 3-2, after taking the lead and later losing it. Here are four players that impressed more than others on the day.

Cole Palmer (No. 20) Central attacking midfielder

Palmer showed his creative prowess against Nottingham Forest on Saturday, completing two through passes and assisting Mykhailo Mudryk’s superb goal in the process to put Chelsea ahead.

He is now up to 16 big chances created this league season, leaving him just six behind the league’s highest and four behind Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes, who is second. 

He created five chances, which was impressive enough, also completing 3/8 crosses on the day. Chelsea was completely outplayed but Palmer gave the Blues a fighting chance with his performances. 

Moises Caicedo (No. 25) Central midfielder

Interestingly, Caicedo’s defensive performance wasn’t all that impressive today, which you could have guessed considering how much joy Forest had. 

Caicedo’s impact was more on the ball, as his distribution set off many attacks, and his pass to Reece James for the third goal showed his superb passing technique, running on to the ball and just pinging a perfectly weighted ball into the right space for James, a pass that was begging James to do something sumptuous with it, which he did.

Caicedo created a big chance for the away side, registering a crucial assist as well. Though he only won 3/11 duels and 2/5 ground duels, he still made eight defensive actions, including three key interceptions and two blocked shots.

He made the second-most Shot-Creating Actions for Chelsea (4) only behind Palmer. 

Raheem Sterling (No. 7) Left winger

Sterling was clinical when he came on and that was topped off with an extremely identical goal to Callum Hudson-Odoi’s goal six minutes prior. It was almost Chelsea’s way of saying to Forest “Oh you have that kind of goal in your locker? Well we have that too”. 

Having lost his place to Mudryk in recent weeks, he has played a bit part role ever since. He not only scored the only shot he took in this game, he also completed the only dribble he attempted and created a clear cut chance with the only chance he created. 

In 17 minutes, Sterling came on and played a role that fans will remember for a long time if Pochettino’s men end up securing European football this season. 

Thiago Silva (No. 6) Centerback

I mentioned that Chelsea was played off the park by Forest. Well, Silva is a key reason the Blues did not concede as many as were deserved. 

Silva completed eight clearances, more than any other Chelsea player. He also won all but one of his aerials. His passing was, as usual, immaculate, helping the Blues build out from the back. 

The Brazil international and future Fluminense defender completed over 100 passes on the day, misplacing just three passes, two of which were attempted long balls.