Chelsea will host Nottingham in a rare Monday afternoon English Premier League fixture hoping to get their season back on track with only four games left.
The managerless Chelsea have lost their last five league matches, leaving them in ninth place with 48 points.
They host a Nottingham side who are unbeaten in their last five and are in 16th, five points above the dreaded relegation spots. They destroyed Sunderland 5-0 at the Stadium of Light last weekend to put some breathing room between them and the drop.
The Blues won their first match since the dismissal of Liam Rosenior, beating Leeds 1-0 to book a place in the FA Cup finals against Manchester City in a fortnight.
The in-form Nottingham are also battling for a place in the Europa League final, where they carry a 1-0 advantage from the semifinal first leg match against Aston Villa.
Which of these sides will win here to salvage different aspects of their Premier Leaue campaign? We have a look at both teams and offer our predicted outcome.
ALSO READ: Man United vs Liverpool EPL prediction: Match preview, team news, current form & h2h
What time does Chelsea vs Nottingham start?
The match kicks off at 5PM E.A.T at Stamford Bridge
Chelsea vs Nottingham team news
The Blues are boosted by the return of top scorer Joao Pedro after recovering from a knee injury. The Brazilian forward will lead the attacking line, supported by Pedro Neto and Alejandro Garnacho.
Enzo Fernandez scored Chelsea’s first goal in six games against Leeds and will start here alongside Moises Caicedo in midfield.
Romeo Lavia is also expected to retain his starting role here while Andrey Santos settles for a place on the bench.
Malo Gusto will retain his spot as the back four is expected to remain the same with Robert Sanchez in goal.
For the visitors, the forward partnership of Igor Jesus and Chris Wood seems to be working and it will continue here.
Omari Hutchinson and Morgan Gibbs-White have been in fine form and the duo will provide attacking options on either flank for Nottingham.
Chelsea vs Nottingham head-to-head and current form
The win against Leeds was Chelsea’s second in their last five games, which features three consecutive defeats. They have also managed just one goal in their last four games.
They face a Nottingham side who are unbeaten in an impressive nine consecutive games in all competitions. They have scored 11 goals on the road to winning their last four games ahead of this encounter.
However, the visitors have only beaten Chelsea once in 2023. The Blues have won three of the last five games against Nottingham with only one stalemate in between.
ALSO READ: Espanyol vs Real Madrid prediction: La Liga preview, team news, current form & h2h
Current form:
Chelsea – WLLLW
Nottingham – WWWWD
Chelsea vs Nottingham previous games
Chelsea vs Nottingham prediction
It will be interesting to see if the FA Cup semifinal win was enough to bring the Blues out of their poor run of form. They boast a supreme record over Nottingham and were already 3-0 winners away from home in the reverse fixture.
With the Europa semi second leg on the horizon, Nottingham may not go full throttle here and could lose to Chelsea.
Prediction – Chelsea to win – CLICK HERE TO PLACE YOUR BET FOR THIS GAME!