Nottingham Forest vs Chelsea lineups | News | Official site

Cesar Azpilicueta returns to the side in place of Reece James for a record-breaking appearance.

Alignments Nottingham Forest-Chelsea

Graham Potter has made one change to the team that beat Bournemouth 2-0 in our last game last year as we kick off 2023 at Nottingham Forest.

That is imposed on him by our head coach due to the injury suffered by Reece James in that previous game, with Cesar Azpilicueta coming on as team captain in his absence. It will be the Spaniard’s 495th cap for Chelsea, leaving him ahead of Petr Cech’s total as our player with the most foreign appearances of all time.

Otherwise, the defense has not changed, which means that Marc Cucurella continues on the left while Thiago Silva and Kalidou Koulibaly are in the middle, ahead of goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga. The midfield trio also maintain their places, with Denis Zakaria continuing alongside Jorginho and Mason Mount.

There are also no changes in attack, where Christian Pulisic, Raheem Sterling and Kai Havertz remain. Mateo Kovacic and Hakim Ziyech are among the substitutes for the first time since helping their countries reach the World Cup semi-finals after a rest against Bournemouth.

Forest manager Steve Copper has made two changes to the squad that were beaten 3-0 by Manchester United last time out, with goalkeeper Dean Henderson returning and Morgan Gibbs-White replacing Jesse Lingard in the first three. .

Chelsea: Kepa, Azpilicueta (c), Thiago Silva, Koulibaly, Cucurella, Zakaria, Jorginho, Mount, Sterling, Havertz, Pulisic

Substitutes: Bettinelli, Hall, Chalobah, Chukwuemeka, Gallagher, Kovacic, Hutchinson, Ziyech, Aubameyang

Nottingham Forest: Henderson, Aurier, Worrall (c), Boly, Lodi, Mangala, Freuler, Yates, Johnson, Awoniyi, Gibbs-White

Substitutes: Hennessey, Toffolo, Williams, Cook, McKenna, Colback, O’Brien, Dennis, Surridge

Referee: Peter Bankes

Credit: https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/article/nottingham-forest-vs-chelsea-lineups