Interim Chelsea boss Calum McFarlane lamented an “unacceptable” opening 15 minutes after their poor form continued with a 3-1 home defeat by Nottingham Forest.
The Blues suffered a sixth consecutive Premier League defeat despite Forest making eight changes ahead of their Europa League semi-final second leg with Aston Villa, McFarlane’s men failing to build on their FA Cup semi-final victory over Leeds United.
Taiwo Awoniyi put Forest ahead in the second minute, before Igor Jesus converted a penalty in the 15th minute after Malo Gusto was penalized for pulling Awoniyi’s shirt following a VAR review.
That left Chelsea with a mountain to climb and a huge chance to get back into the game when Cole Palmer saw a penalty saved by Matz Sels after a worrying clash of heads between Zach Abbott and Jesse Derry, their Premier League debut ending in a booking late in the first half.
Awoniyi doubled his tally to make it 3-0 following a good performance by Morgan Gibbs-White, who came off with a head injury following a collision with Chelsea’s goalkeeper, Robert Sanchez, who also had to be taken off.
That ended the game as a contest, despite Joao Pedro scoring a stunning consolation, with Chelsea’s latest defeat leaving them ninth, 10 points outside the top five ahead of next week’s trip to Liverpool.
“The first 15 minutes were unacceptable,” McFarlane told a press conference after the game.
“The way we scored two goals set us back and gave us a mountain to climb.”
McFarlane: Chelsea can’t start like this
Asked to explain the defeat, McFarlane added: “It’s a brutal game, a really high level. We can’t start games like this in the Premier League.
“We train tomorrow, we will review the game and try to find the reason and try to make sure that the performance level is high when we face Liverpool in five days.”
Chelsea can still qualify for the Champions League if they finish sixth and Villa finish fifth while winning the Europa League.
Such a finish looks unlikely, however, with Chelsea now four points behind sixth-placed Bournemouth.
“I know the team, I did it for a while,” McFarlane said when asked about the prospect of missing out on the Champions League. “They are determined and want the best for this club and we will do everything we can to win every game from now until the end of the season.”
The most important aspect of Chelsea’s afternoon was the injury to Derry, who received a few minutes of treatment on the pitch before being sent off.
Chelsea then issued a statement confirming that the 18-year-old boy is alive and talking but was taken to the hospital for evaluation.
“We’re hearing good signs from Jesse and Rob,” McFarlane said of the two’s head injuries. “I hope the Forest players are also healthy [Derry] I did well on the pitch but there are important things we have to focus on right now.”
