Nottingham Forest Vs Chelsea Prediction: Host's Toughest Mission At The End Of The Season

JAKARTA - The final week of the Premier League season 2024-2025 will bring together Nottingham Forest and Chelsea at City Ground, Sunday, May 25. This match is very crucial because one of the two teams can celebrate tickets to the Champions League next season after the fierce duel.

Chelsea have a relatively clear task, which is to win enough to ensure finishing in the top five of the standings and securing one Champions League ticket. Meanwhile, Nottingham Forest had to fight hard to win and hoped that the result of Newcastle United and Aston Villa's match would not benefit their two rivals in order to qualify for Europe's top competition.

Nottingham Forest, which was raised by Nuno Espirito Santo, currently collects 65 points and still has a chance to qualify for the Champions League or at least appear in the Conference League next season. An important 2-1 win over West Ham last week was a valuable asset to keep the opportunity alive, thanks to goals from Morgan Gibbs-White and Nikola Milenkovic who took advantage of Anthony Elanga's free kick. However, Forest had to go through a tough test by hosting Chelsea who had 19 wins from 37 games this season.

Chelsea, handled by Enzo Maresca, are in their best form, with six wins from the last seven games in all competitions. A 1-0 win over Manchester United last week made their position in fifth place in the standings very safe. However, Chelsea's away performance this season is still a concern because they have only won once from the last 10 away games in the league and have difficulty scoring goals.

The first meeting of the season at Stamford Bridge ended in a 1-1 draw, but Chelsea narrowly won 3-2 when they traveled to Nottingham last season. If Chelsea win at City Ground, they have the potential to win two straight wins over Forest at home to opponents for the first time in 103 years and secure Champions League tickets without depending on other results.

Nottingham Forest still doubts the condition of Murillo defenders who have had ankle injuries and have not trained since the victory over West Ham. If he is absent, Morato is predicted to replace center-back with Milenkovic. Callum Hudson-Odoi is expected to return to the starting XI, ready to appear against his former club. Taiwo Awoniyi is still recovering after surgery.

Chelsea are still without Nicolas Jackson being suspended, but have good news with Christopher Nkunku and Marc Guiu recovering and ready to play. Jadon Sancho is also back on standby after being absent against Manchester United due to rules related to the parent club. Meanwhile, Wesley Fofana and Omari Kellyman are still injured, and Mykhaylo Mudryk is undergoing temporary doping suspension.

This match is predicted to be tight and stressful, especially for Forest who have to win and hope for other results to side with them. Chelsea, with the motivation to maintain consistent performance ahead of the Conference League final, is believed to be attacking to ensure Champions League tickets remain in their hands.

Forecast formation:

Nottingham Forest (4-3-3): Sels; Aina, Milenkovic, Morato, Williams; Dominguez, Anderson; Elanga, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi; Wood.

Chelsea (4-3-3): Sanchez; James, Chalobah, Colwill, Cucurella; Fernandez, Caicedo; Madueke, Palmer, Neto; Nkunku.