Nottingham Forest vs Chelsea Prediction, 6:30 p.m. October 18: A 'life and death' challenge for coach Ange Postecoglou

TPO - Football commentary on the Nottingham vs Chelsea match, round 8 of the Premier League 2025/26, at 6:30 p.m. on October 18 - Information on the squad, expected lineup, form, and history of confrontation. The match at City Ground is not only a confrontation between two teams with contrasting forms, but also a life-and-death battle for coach Ange Postecoglou. Another disappointing result could make his seat more shaky than ever.

Pre-match comments

Nottingham are still struggling to find their first win under coach Ange Postecoglou. The pressure is weighing heavily on the 1965-born coach, as his team has just suffered 3 consecutive defeats in all competitions.

Most recently, Forest fell 0-2 to Newcastle United with goals from Bruno Guimaraes and young talent Nick Woltemade.

That result left Forest in 17th place, just one point above the relegation zone, and without a win in the Premier League since the opening round.

Voices calling for a change of manager began to ring around the City Ground, with the name Sean Dyche (former Everton coach) mentioned as a potential replacement candidate.

If they continue to fail to score against Chelsea, Forest will face the risk of failing to score in three consecutive Premier League matches, something that has not happened since 1999. The Reds even face the prospect of losing three consecutive home matches to Chelsea, a scenario that Postecoglou certainly does not want to witness.

On the other side, Chelsea traveled to the City Ground in high spirits after an impressive 2-1 win over Liverpool. Moises Caicedo's beautiful long-range strike and a last-minute strike from Brazilian prodigy Estevao, the youngest Samba player to ever score in the Premier League, ended the Blues' three-game winless streak in the Premier League.

Under the guidance of coach Enzo Maresca, Chelsea are showing signs of improvement. After 7 rounds, they have won 3 matches, rising to 7th place and are only 3 points behind the top 4.

However, the weakness of the blue team still lies in the ability to play away from home when they only won 3 out of the last 14 away matches in the Premier League, a number that clearly reflects the instability every time they leave Stamford Bridge.

However, Chelsea's 12 away points in 2025 is still a remarkable achievement and is even higher than the total points earned by manager Ange Postecoglou with Nottingham since he took charge.

Force information

Chelsea suffered a serious loss in force when they were without a series of key players such as Benoit Badiashile, Liam Delap, Levi Colwill, Dario Essugo, Mykhaylo Mudryk and Cole Palmer, who needs at least 6 more weeks to recover from a groin injury.

In his pre-match press conference, coach Maresca also expressed concerns about the fitness of Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo and Pedro Neto. However, Chelsea will welcome back Tosin Adarabioyo, Wesley Fofana, Andrey Santos and Trevoh Chalobah after their suspensions.

Nottingham Forest will be without Ola Aina, while Oleksandr Zinchenko and Douglas Luiz are doubtful.

Expected lineup:

Nottingham Forest: Sels; Savona, Milenkovic, Murillo, Williams; Anderson, Dominguez; Ndoye, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi; Jesus

Chelsea: Sanchez; Gusto, Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Lavia, Caicedo; Estevao, Buonanotte, Garnacho; Pedro

Score prediction: Nottingham Forest 0-2 Chelsea

Source: https://tienphong.vn/nhan-dinh-nottingham-forest-vs-chelsea-18h30-ngay-1810-thu-thach-sinh-tu-cho-hlv-ange-postecoglou-post1788270.tpo