Pressure increases on Graham Potter as Chelsea drop more points
UNDER PRESSURE: Chelsea manager Graham Potter during the Premier League match at the City Ground, Nottingham. Pic: Tim Goode/PA Wire
No doubt Chelsea will try to spend their way out of trouble - when have they ever done otherwise? - but 2023 already looks like being a tough one for Graham Potter.
Serge Aurier, of all people, netted his first goal in almost two years to earn Nottingham Forest a point that was thoroughly deserved and leave Chelsea, with just one win from their last seven Premier League outings, seven points adrift of the top four.
Raheem Sterling took advantage of 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 kept Chelsea in eighth place - nowhere near where they were expected to finish.
Potter, who is expected to welcome Monaco centre-back Benoît Badiashile to Stamford Bridge in the next few days, is a man under pressure despite assurances from his American employers that his is a long-term project.
"Our performance level wasn't good enough to take the three points," the former Brighton boss admitted. "We didn't move the ball fast enough, not enough movement. We need to focus on the next match but clearly we have a long way to go."
The next match is Manchester City by the way, in the league on Thursday. After that it is the same opposition in the FA Cup.
Forest, who take on fellow strugglers Southampton on Wednesday, became a pre-season laughing stock when they signed 22 new players - and Cooper confirmed he was keen for more additions this month.
"We've picked up some long-term injuries to some key players so if we can add players in the right positions then we will want to do that," he explained.
Those he does currently have hardly let him down though.
Mason Mount - labelled a 'Derby reject' by the home fans - ran in behind to give Forest an early scare but could not find the target but it was not long before it was hosts' turn when Brennan Johnson, on the end of a swift counter attack, was denied twice by keeper Kepa.
Chelsea's pressing looked decidedly festive period but Sterling was alert enough to give Chelsea the lead in the 16th minute.
Christian Pulisic's cross was diverted by the heel of Willy Boly on to his own crossbar and Sterling calmly waited for it to fall to him so he could knock it past the defender on the line and celebrate his first Premier League goal since August.
Referee Peter Bankes fired up the home fans with a few questionable decisions in Chelsea's favour, including a Remo Freuler slider on Denis Zakaria that looked legal enough ball-winning and a booking for Ryan Yates for a foul on the same player.
Taiwo Awoniyi tested Kepa early in the second half before Johnson was again unable to get the better of the Spanish shot-stopper when in a decent position. The Wales forward would have done better to square it for Awoniyi, however.
Fortune favoured Potter and Co when Morgan Gibbs-White, on the edge of the box, sent a shot that rocketed off the same crossbar that Boly had found earlier. Kepa hardly moved and was relieved when it bounced down and away, possibly off the bottom of his left-hand upright.
Chelsea were rocking, a leveller was coming and when it arrived just after the hour mark the only surprise was the identity of the scorer.
It was a fine finish though from former Tottenham defender Aurier following some utter chaos in the Chelsea box from a corner that Havertz headed up in the air at the near post. A bundle of players from both sides challenged as the ball dropped before the Ivorian chested it down and swivelled to thump past Kepa from close range.
Potter's response was to make a triple substitution that enabled Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to partner Havertz up front, with Conor Gallagher and Hakim Ziyech also introduced.
Aubameyang managed only the slightest of touches to Ziyech's pass and in doing so took it away from Pulisic, who was in a decent position to convert.
It was that sort of day for Chelsea - and Potter cannot afford too many more of those.
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).
Hennessey, Cook, O'Brien, Toffolo, Dennis, McKenna.
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.
Bettinelli, Chalobah, Hutchinson, Hall.
Peter Bankes 6.
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