Chelsea's season plunged to a dispiriting new low as Nottingham Forest won 3-1 at Stamford Bridge to condemn them to a sixth consecutive Premier League defeat.
It had already been the club’s worst run of league form since 1912 but just when it looked like there were no fresh crises left to visit them, Forest’s second-string XI arrived in west London and blitzed Chelsea with two goals by Taiwo Awoniyi – the first after 98 seconds – and a penalty from Igor Jesus, as Vitor Pereira’s side moved six points clear of the relegation zone.
The Blues’ five-game scoring drought had almost reached six, far beyond the point of credibility, by the time Joao Pedro’s stoppage-time overhead kick gave them their first league goal since March 4.
The ridiculousness of that run had earlier been laid bare when Cole Palmer had a first-half penalty saved by stand-in goalkeeper Matz Sels.
Visiting supporters in the Shed End could have been forgiven for barely recognising their team. The seven outfield players brought in by Pereira, a move made doubtless with Thursday’s Europa League semi-final second leg in mind, had 11 league starts this season between them, but it was Chelsea who appeared like strangers to one another.
Interim head coach Calum McFarlane had seen his hands virtually tied by late injuries to Pedro Neto and Alejandro Garnacho, meaning a first Premier League start for 18-year-old Jesse Derry. As if things could get no worse, the teenager required oxygen and was stretchered off with a serious head injury late in the first half after colliding with Forest’s Zach Abbott.
