Date: Sunday January 5th 2020
Venue: Stamford Bridge
Kick-off: 14:01 GMT
Today’s FA Cup third round game is a re-run of last year’s as we
face Nottingham Forest a year after our last meeting at Stamford Bridge.
That one was an emotional experience, with Cesc Fabregas leaving the field in tears (and not because he missed a penalty), and the utter shock at Alvaro Morata bagging himself a brace as we came away with a 2-0 win. I had a fair bit of emotion aroused by our then manager, Maurizio Sarri as well, although I’m trying to put those sorts of feelings to bed now we have a ‘proper Chelsea’ legend who cares as much as we do.
Under Frank Lampard this season, we’ve seen young players
brought into the side, we’ve seen some lovely football at times, but we’ve also
had inconsistency – particularly at home. So, whilst Nottingham Forest, also in
4th place (in the Championship), come into today’s game off the back
of three straight wins over Hull, Wigan and Blackburn, our recent form has seen
us lose to Southampton, beat Arsenal and then draw last time out against
Brighton. So, the outcome today could well be determined by our ability (or
not) to get our act together at home.
MANAGER’S VIEWS
Going into today’s
game, it seems Chelsea manager, Frank Lampard has been hit by the bug flying
around and Jody Morris says “Alonso is defo
out. Ruben is an obvious one. Apart from that we’re still having a look at a
few. At the moment not looking too bad.
Should be able to select from a few. Fik (Tomori) has trained but not feeling
the best. There’s been a bit of a bug flying about. I think it’s just time of the year so we need to
put up with those sort of things.”
Nottingham Forest
manager, Sabri
Lamouchi meanwhile, says “I’m not a dreamer, I just want to be
realistic.To be
honest, we don’t have a chance, but football is football. We are facing a very good team, with big
professionals and fantastic players, so I of course want to try and make a good
image for Forest.”
SQUAD NEWS
For Chelsea, Ruben Loftus-Cheek
(Achilles), van Ginkel (ACL), Olivier Giroud (ankle) and Marcos
Alonso (hamstring) remain out. Fikayo Tomori and Billy Gilmour have both been
unwell, so may miss out.
For Nottingham Forest, Chema may miss
out after a knock on New Year’s Day, although Yuri Ribeiro (knee) should return.
TEAMS
CHELSEA (Possible line-up): Caballero; Lamptey,
Christensen, Zouma, Emerson; Kovacic, Barkley; Mount, Hudson-Odoi; Pulisic; Batshuayi
NOTTINGHAM FOREST (Possible line-up): Samba; Jenkinson, Dawson, Worrall,
Robinson; Semedo, Sow; Lolley, Carvalho, Adomah; Grabban
LAST MEETING
Chelsea 2-0 Nottingham Forest (5th January 2019)
CURRENT FORM (ALL)
CHELSEA: WLWLWD
FOREST: DLLWWW
OTHER STUFF
- This is the fifth time Chelsea and Nottingham Forest have met in an FA Cup tie – Chelsea have progressed from the previous four, including a third-round 2-0 win last season.
- Nottingham Forest have lost their last five away matches against Chelsea in all competitions, with three of those defeats coming in FA Cup meetings.
- Chelsea have been eliminated from just two of their last 50 FA Cup ties against teams from outside the Premier League
- Nottingham Forest were eliminated by Chelsea in the third round last season.
PREDICTION
Standard: Chelsea 3-1 Nottingham Forest
Sportsmole: Chelsea 2–1 Nottingham Forest
90min: Chelsea 3-2 Nottingham Forest
One area of progression I’m all for this year, is the kick-off
one minute past the hour, as part of the joint campaign between the FA and Heads
Together, to raise mental health awareness. I’ve always said football has the
ability to influence a worldwide audience and with the zero suicide agenda
never more important than it is right now, I for one, wholeheartedly support any
effort to get mental health out from the many carpets it’s swept under.
