Chelsea simply cannot shake off their dismal league form as Nottingham Forest are latest to run amok

Back to the Bridge of Sighs : Picture by @YTJourno

Premier League

Chelsea (0) 1 Joao Pedro 90+3

Nottingham Forest (2) 3 Awoniyi 2, 52 Igor Jesus 15pen

What was supposed to be an easyish afternoon against a team saving itself for a European semi-final turned out to be anything but, as Chelsea's grim league form continued.

It is now six Premier League defeats in a row for the humbled Blues.

Forest boss Vitor Pereira fielded a virtual shadow side to save legs for the trip to Villa Park on Thursday, but it was the hosts who looked the leggy ones. Their energy levels simply did not match Nottingham's - whose desire for extra points to stave off the threat of relegation gave them the edge. They were full of running and purpose throughout.

An increasingly silent home crowd became sparse before the end as many disenchanted fans took their leave well ahead of the final whistle. It was in stark contrast to the away end, where Forest supporters did not stop chanting.

The only bright moment for the Blues came right at the end when Joao Pedro bagged the team's first league goal in six outings in injury time - a superb overhead kick after he had controlled Marc Cucurella's cushioned headed pass on his chest.

Forest made a really bright start and it was rewarded with a goal inside two minutes and it was a stunningly simple one. Dilane Bakwa got around Cucurella with ease to hoist up a hanging cross for Taiwo Awoniyi to head firmly past Robert Sanchez.

Enzo Fernandez came close to equalising with a shot that pinged off the far post but Forest were still looking the better of the two sides and they doubled their lead after only 15 minutes.

Igor Jesus was the scorer this time, putting away a spot kick through the middle after VAR intervened to prompt ref Anthony Taylor into penalising Malo Gusto for a shirt pull on Awoniyi as the striker went for a Bakwa cross.

The struggling Blues badly needed a lifeline from somewhere and thought they had got one just before the interval - albeit with a horrible consequence for debutant Jesse Derry.

The 18-year-old reached a cross ahead of Forest defender Zach Abbott, but came off worse in a terrible clash of heads which saw physios rush on and the game suspended for 10 minutes.

You knew it was bad as SKY cameras declined to show replays. The youngster had to be stretchered off.

Cole Palmer had had to wait a long tome to take the kick and when he did, it was too close to Matz Sels, who dived to his right to keep out the kick.

The home boos that greeted the interval gave way to even more anger soon after the break when the Blues allowed half-time sub Morgan Gibbs-White to race forward and slide a ball through from the right for Awoniyi to tap home for his second of the afternoon.

Gibbs-White did not last long, going off after yet another horrible collision with Robert Sanchez - who also came off after the incident midway through the second half.

Pedro had the ball in the net on 73 minutes - nodding in after Sels had blocked his initial effort - but it was ruled out for a marginal offside. "We nearly scored!" sang the Chelsea fans in self-mockery.

All in all, it was a miserable afternoon for the managerless Blues - just a week after they booked an FA Cup final place under caretaker boss Callum McFarlane. But at least they avoided a blank scoresheet. They had not managed a goal in the league for two months since the early-March win at Aston Villa.

The injury to Derry was deflating but there was at least good news in the return of Levi Colwill, who came on after half-time for his first league appearance of the season.

The defender has been missing - and been badly missed - since picking up a knee injury in pre-season after the Club World Cup last summer.

Blues: (4-2-3-1) Sanchez (Jorgensen 66) - Gusto, Chalobah, Tosin (Colwill h/t), Cucurella - Lavia (Andrey Santos 58), Caicedo - Palmer, Fernandez, Derry (Delap 45) - Joao Pedro

Forest: (4-4-2) Sels - Abbott (Williams 45), Jair Cunha (Milenkovic h/t), Morato, Netz - McAtee, Dominguez (Anderson h/t), Yates, Bakwa (Hutchinson 81) - Igor Jesus (Gibbs-White h/t) (Wood 66), Awoniyi

Attendance: 39,605