Nottingham Forest produced a stunning 3-1 win over out-of-form Chelsea to surge six points clear of the Premier League relegation zone.
Despite Vitor Pereira’s heavy rotation, Forest extended their unbeaten run in the league to seven games, and made it three wins on the spin, with a clinical display at Stamford Bridge to ease their relegation concerns.
Awoniyi opened the scoring after just 97 seconds, heading in from Dilane Bakwa’s cross, while Igor Jesus fired in from the penalty spot in the 15th minute after Malo Gusto was penalised for a shirt pull on Awoniyi.
Chelsea missed the chance to pull a goal back before the break, with Cole Palmer missing a penalty of his own, and Forest made it 3-0 early in the second half when Awoniyi tapped in from Morgan Gibbs-White’s centre.
Gibbs-White was substituted off with a head injury shortly after, throwing his availability for Forest’s Europa League semi-final second leg on Thursday into doubt, while Joao Pedro saw a header disallowed for offside.
The Brazilian did eventually end Chelsea’s long goal drought, scoring a bicycle kick in stoppage time, though the Blues could not avoid a sixth consecutive Premier League defeat.
Massive. pic.twitter.com/v2enwiSa5Z
— Nottingham Forest (@NFFC) May 4, 2026
Data Debrief: Awoniyi’s London love-in
Nine of Awoniyi’s 12 away goals in the Premier League have come against London sides. He has scored more goals in the capital than any other Forest player in the competition.
He scored with both of his attempts and was responsible for 1.1 of Forest’s 2.07 expected goals (xG), while Chelsea accumulated 1.93 from their 21 attempts, with Calum McFarlane’s team found wanting when it came to their finishing.
Joao Pedro’s superb strike – his 20th of the season in all competitions – snapped a 634-minute wait for a league goal for Chelsea.
The striker won a match-high eight duels for his side, while also completing four of his six attempted dribbles (also a match-high), though his effort was ultimately just a consolation.
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