Nottingham Forest vs. Chelsea 1/1/23 EPL Soccer Picks, Predictions, Odds

Nottingham Forest and Chelsea face off on Sunday in an English Premier League showdown at City Ground. When these two teams faced off in 2020 it was Chelsea that secured the 2-0 victory. 

Nottingham Forest comes into this game sitting in 20th place in the standings having picked up 13 points. On Tuesday, Nottingham Forest faced off against Manchester United, and they were defeated 3-0. Nottingham Forest had 34 percent of the possession and three shots on target. Dean Henderson wasn’t able to play in the last game against his parent club, but he will be back here, getting the start. Morgan Gibbs-White is dealing with a muscle injury, and he’s going to be out for a while. Jesse Lingard had to leave the last game early with an injury, and it’s unclear if he’s going to be able to play in this game. 

On the other side of this matchup is Chelsea, who currently sits in 8th place in the standings having picked 24 points. On Tuesday, they faced off against AFC Bournemouth, and they were able to secure the 2-0 victory. Kai Havertz scored in the 16th minute and Mason Mount scored in the 24th minute to secure the victory. Chelsea is going to be without Armando Broja, N’Golo Kante, Ben Chilwell, Wesley Fofana, and Ruben Loftus-Cheek for this game. Reese James had to leave the last game early with a knee injury, and it’s unclear if he’s going to be able to go in this game. 

Even though Nottingham Forest has their top goaltender back in this game, I think they are still going to struggle to defend here. Chelsea is going to score a couple of goals here, and that is going to be the difference here. Nottingham Forest won’t get on the board, and Chelsea is going to get the job done. Back Chelsea -1.5 to cash here.