Forest fight back to claim valuable point against Chelsea

Serge Aurier cancelled out Raheem Sterling's opener.

TECHNIQUE: Serge Aurier scores Nottingham Forest's equaliser at the City Ground. Picture: Mike Egerton/PA Wire.

Nottingham Forest 1 

Chelsea 1 

Serge Aurier netted his first goal in almost two years to earn Nottingham Forest a deserved point and leave Chelsea still teetering under Graham Potter.

Raheem Sterling took advantage off a fortunate ricochet off the woodwork to give the visitors an early lead but former Tottenham defender Aurier levelled after the break with a fine finish from a scrambled corner.

The result was not enough to lift Steve Cooper's side out of the drop zone but it also kept Chelsea in eighth place - nowhere near where a Chelsea side is expected to finish.

Forest have been impressive in front of their own fans in their long-awaited top-flight comeback but Potter's reputation won't have been enhanced by this result.

Cooper and Co now have a relegation showdown with Southampton to look forward to on Wednesday, while Chelsea must now take on Manchester City in the league and then the FA Cup this week.

Nottingham Forest (4-3-3): Henderson 6; Aurier 7, Worrall 7, Boly 6, Lodi 6; Yates 7, Freuler 7, Mangala 6 (Colback); Johnson 6 (Surridge 82), Gibbs-White 7, Awoniyi 7 (Williams 88).

Subs (unused): Hennessey, Cook, O'Brien, Toffolo, Dennis, McKenna.

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Arrizabalaga 7; Azpilicueta 6, Koulibaly 6, Silva 7, Cucurella 6; Zakaria 7 (Kovacic 61, 5), Jorginho 6 (Ziyech 72); Sterling 6 (Gallagher 73), Mount 6 (Aubameyang 73), Pulisic 7 (Chukwuemeka 87); Havertz 6.

Subs (unised): Bettinelli, Chalobah, Hutchinson, Hall.

Referee: Peter Bankes 6