EPL: Awoniyi Double Earns Forest Crucial Point As Chelsea Stumble Again

Chelsea produced yet another below-par performance as Nottingham Forest picked up a crucial point in their survival push with a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge.

Forest’s bid to stay in the Premier League has been centred on their home form, with just one League win away from home all season, but that record counted for very little when coupled with a Chelsea side continuing to look all at sea.

Both Taiwo Awoniyi and Raheem Sterling netted braces at Stamford Bridge, as Forest earned a draw that leaves them three points clear of the bottom three and the Blues stumbled to a result that further emphasises their desperation for the season to to finish.

Edouard Mendy started for the first time since Frank Lampard’s return to the club, and he played a major role in the visitors taking the lead. A hopeful cross was sent into the box, Mendy came flying off his line, got nowhere near the ball and left his goal unmanned as Awoniyi nodded home.

Chelsea offered very little until a seven-minute spell after the break first got them level and then saw them edge in front. Trevoh Chalobah got in behind on the right and cut the ball back for Raheem Sterling, who provided the finish with the help of a deflection.

He needed no assistance for his second, as he cut inside after being played through by Ruben Loftus-Cheek and fired a strike beyond Keylor Navas and into the far corner, to raise the prospect of Chelsea winning at home for the first time in Lampard’s second spell in charge.

Within four minutes though, they had been pegged back. Chelsea half-cleared the danger, but Orel Mangala lobbed the ball back into the box and Awoniyi was once again there to beat Mendy with a header that proved to be enough for Forest fans to leave Stamford Bridge with real belief that they will be back next season.

Premier League

P	Team	M	W	P
1	Manchester City	34	26	82
2	Arsenal	35	25	81
3	Newcastle United	35	18	66
4	Manchester United	35	20	66
5	Liverpool	35	18	62
6	Tottenham	36	17	57
7	Aston Villa	36	17	57
8	Brighton	33	16	55
9	Fulham	36	15	51
10	Brentford	35	12	50
11	Chelsea	35	11	43
12	Crystal Palace	36	11	43
13	Wolverhampton Wanderers	36	11	40
14	Bournemouth	36	11	39
15	West Ham	35	10	37
16	Nottingham Forest	36	8	34
17	Everton	35	7	32
18	Leeds	36	7	31
19	Leicester	35	8	30
20	Southampton	36	6	24