Key events
72 min: As things stand, Chelsea are in fourth spot. Forest will finish the season in seventh place, and contest next year’s Uefa Conference League.
70 min: Everton have taken a shock lead at Newcastle. That doesn’t make any difference to Forest at the moment; they still need two goals for the win, and then they can assess their Champions League hopes from there.
68 min: Dominguez can’t continue. He looks in pain and close to tears as he’s helped off. Forest midfield stalwart – and club captain – Yates replaces him.
66 min: Madueke catches Dominguez on the back of the leg with his studs. That’s not a great challenge, but it looked more careless than aggressive. The referee isn’t of a mind to take any action, but both players need treatment as a result of their entanglement.
64 min: Palmer goes down holding his right ankle. Play stops awhile, but there’s no need for the trainer to come on. He gets back up.
63 min: Another Forest corner, this time from the left, leads to a game of head tennis in the Chelsea box. The visitors can’t clear their lines properly, but Aina lets them off the hook by larruping a wild shot high over the bar.
62 min: Sancho is replaced by Lavia, Enzo Maresca presumably opting to keep hold of what he has by shoring things up.
61 min: Palmer has a speculative dig from a tight-ish angle on the left. Easy pickings for Golden Gloves.
60 min: A corner for Forest down the right. Elanga sends it in, but Sanchez claims easily. Speaking of keepers, here’s some good news for Forest. Or Matz Sels, anyway. Arsenal keeper David Raya has conceded a goal at Southampton, so both players will end the season tied on 13 clean sheets, sharing the Golden Glove.
58 min: A ball looped long towards the Chelsea box. Dominguez heads it on. Wood is clear, but lamps the dropping ball miles over the bar. The offside flag goes up, correctly, to spare Wood’s blushes.
57 min: Hudson-Odoi, formerly of Chelsea, comes on for Sangare.
56 min: Caicedo is booked for clipping Elanga’s ankle.
54 min: Palmer crosses from the left. The ball pings off Aina for a corner. Forest manage to deal with the set piece, but they’re in a state at the moment. They need to clear their heads quickly, because another Chelsea goal in short order will surely put the Champions League out of their reach.
53 min: Neto dribbles purposefully down the inside-left channel and nearly busts through the Forest back line. A combination of Williams, Murillo and Milenkovic manages to crowd him out. Just.
52 min: Colwill disappears into the Chelsea fans behind the goal. They’re all going wild. The rest of the City Ground stunned. They need two goals now if they’re to make the Champions League.
GOAL! Nottingham Forest 0-1 Chelsea (Colwill 50)
Palmer crosses from a deep position on the left. It’s half cleared. Cucurella loops it back into the mixer. Williams heads weakly backwards. The ball drops to Neto on the left-hand corner of the six-yard box. With Sels and all members of his defence attracted to the ball, Neto dinks it across the face of goal, and the unmarked Colwill can’t miss from a couple of yards out!
49 min: Space for Palmer down the left. He hooks into the middle and wins a corner off Milenkovic. Neto saunters over to take it. He plays it short to Palmer, and …
48 min: Chelsea would like a goal to make sure, as well, and to this end Sancho and Cucurella try to one-two their way down the left. Sels comes off his line to smother and put an end to their scheme.
47 min: Forest need a goal, so they fly out of the traps, Williams looking to release Elanga down the left. Elanga can’t control the long ball and runs it out of play. An early sign that Forest don’t want to die wondering.
The teams finally re-emerge at Old Trafford … and so they also show themselves again at the City Ground. Chelsea get the second half underway. No changes.
That red card for Emi Martinez, late in the first half, has had a knock-on effect all across the country. The Premier League are determined to start all of the second halves in sync, so the added time at Old Trafford means everyone’s waiting for Manchester United and Aston Villa to finish their half-time oranges. We’ll be off again in a minute or two.
As it stands at the break. In the other matches affecting the hopes and dreams of Forest and Chelsea, Manchester City are winning 1-0 at Fulham, Aston Villa are drawing 0-0 at Manchester United, and Newcastle United are drawing 0-0 at home to Everton. But the big news is that Emi Martinez has been sent off for Villa, as Rob Smyth, helming the final-day Clockwatch, explains below. So it’s potentially on for Forest … if they can find a goal. This news may also convince Chelsea to play it safe.
A big twist in the Champions League race. Cash’s wretched backpass is seized upon by Hojlund, who is inexplicably wiped out by Martinez 25 yards from goal. Hojlund would probably have scored but it wasn’t a sure thing from a tightish angle on the left.
HALF TIME: Nottingham Forest 0-0 Chelsea
Neto missed a big chance from six yards. So did Wood. Other than that, it’s been a whole load of nothing.
45 min +1: Cucurella puts his arm around the in-flight Elanga’s waist and should go into the book, but the referee’s feeling generous.
45 min: Sangare’s cute pass down the right touchline releases Aina into acres. Aina passes infield to Gibbs-White, who tries to release Elanga into the box down the inside-right flank, but clanks his pass straight to Adarabioyo. It was the harder pass on, with Wood completely free to his left.
43 min: Dominguez slips Aina into space down the right. Aina sends a low teaser into the middle. Wood beats Sanchez to the cross, but in flicking the ball over the keeper, the striker flicks the ball over the bar as well. One big chance apiece now.
41 min: Elanga drives hard down the left, enters the box, and flops over. It’s not exactly a dive, but Palmer, standing right beside him, doesn’t get much of the ball when he makes a challenge either. The referee’s not interested, which is probably right on balance.
39 min: Chelsea have done a proper number on the atmosphere. They’ll be more than happy with the way they’ve taken control of this, albeit in a slightly sterile style.
37 min: … and to illustrate this state of affairs, Sky flash up a stat which says Chelsea have had 77 percent of possession in the last ten minutes.
36 min: … and now they slow things down. The City Ground is a little quieter as a result.
34 min: Chelsea are beginning to see more of the ball. They’re not doing a great deal with it, however.
