Chelsea must rise to the occasion on return to scene which kick-started transformation | OneFootball

Blues must maintain momentum after a big win over Liverpool before international break

Your matchday briefing on Chelsea, featuring team news and expert analysis from Dom Smith

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When Chelsea pitched up at the City Ground on the final day of last season, they knew the occasion would serve effectively as a one-legged Champions League play-off game.

Whoever prevailed between Nuno Espirito Santo’s high-flying Nottingham Forest and Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea would claim a place in Europe’s premier competition for this season. Courtesy of Levi Colwill’s winner, it was the Blues who edged it to claim the all-important three points.

Perhaps the game has less immediate importance than when it was played in May, but Saturday’s return to the City Ground is a significant occasion for Chelsea and game they must get right.

Victories against Benfica and, sensationally, Liverpool guided the Blues into the international break with a spring in their step. Chelsea will be intent on picking up where they left off when they face Forest, though Maresca will be watching from the directors’ box, not far from Forest’s omnipotent owner Evangelos Marinakis as he serves a one-match touchline after being fined £8,000 for leaving his technical area and being sent off against Liverpool.

In Maresca’s absence, assistant head coach Willy Caballero will conduct the orchestra from the touchline.

There will be no shortage of effort or intensity from Forest, desperate for a first win after seven without one since Postecoglou, sacked as Tottenham boss in the summer, agreed to replace Nuno.

Postecoglou’s style of play is diametrically opposite to that of Nuno, with his attempts to play free-flowing football having left them exposed in recent weeks. Those seven games have seen them ship 15 goals; Chelsea can get at them.

Levi Colwill was Chelsea’s hero at the City Ground back in May

Chelsea FC via Getty Images

There is a race against time for key trio Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez and Pedro Neto to be fit for the game, after none of them took part in Thursday’s training session at Cobham.

But despite learning Cole Palmer would be sidelined for a further six weeks and that Benoit Badiashile has suffered a fresh muscular injury that will see him out until December, the break has been a welcome one as far as Chelsea’s injury situation is concerned.

Tosin Adarabioyo and Andrey Santos are back from injuries, Wesley Fofana has returned following concussion protocol, and Joao Pedro has shaken off the knock he had been carrying.

Caicedo missed international duty because Ecuador were only playing two friendlies, and Fernandez returned to Cobham after Argentina’s first match. There is some hope the duo may be available come Saturday lunchtime. If not, Santos and Romeo Lavia will no doubt step up.

For Chelsea, a return to the City Ground is about avoiding slipping on this potential banana skin, not handing Postecoglou a routine three points to kickstart his Forest tenure. Most importantly, it is about maintaining momentum ahead of the visit of Ajax in the Champions League on Wednesday.