Chelsea vs Forest preview | Confirmed team news | Expected line-up’s | Prediction

Chelsea take on Nottingham Forest at Stamford Bridge in the 3rd round of the FA Cup on Sunday afternoon.

The Blues blew the chance to extend their lead over their top four rivals after being held to a disappointing 1-1 draw at Brighton on Wednesday so they are now five points ahead of Manchester United in fourth place.

However, Chelsea will need to put Premier League matters on hold for now and focus on the FA Cup as they face a potential banana skin against Nottingham Forest in the third round tomorrow afternoon.

Forest head to the capital sitting fourth in the Championship table after beating Blackburn in a five-goal thriller on New Year’s Day which made it three wins on the bounce so they’ll be quietly confident of pulling off a shock this weekend.

Team news

Chelsea will continue to be without Marcos Alonso as he’s still nursing a buttock injury while Fikayo Tomori is expected to sit this one out after struggling to shake-off a sickness bug.

Olivier Giroud is also still on the sidelines with an ankle injury while Ruben Loftus-Cheek is working his way back to full fitness following a serious Achilles injury.

Frank Lampard is expected to rotate his side with the likes of Kepa, Cesar Azpilicueta, Antonio Rudiger, N’Golo Kante, Jorginho, Christian Pulisic, Willian and Tammy Abraham given a rest.

Willy Caballero should start in goal while the likes of Andreas Christensen, Tariq Lamptey, Emerson Palmeiri, Ross Barkley, Mateo Kovacic, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Pedro and Michy Batshuayi are set to feature.

Expected line-ups

Chelsea XI: Caballero; Lamptey, Christensen, Zouma, Emerson; Kovacic, Barkley; Hudson-Odoi, Mount, Pedro; Batshuayi​

Forest XI: Samba; Cash, Figueiredo, Worrall, Chema; Watson, Sow; Lolley, Semedo, Ameobi; Grabban​

Predicted score

Chelsea 2-1 Forest: This could be a tricky tie for Chelsea if Lampard’s second string don’t perform as Forest have the potential to cause an upset at Stamford Bridge. However, despite making a number of changes, Lampard is still able to field a strong side full of internationals and I think Chelsea will prove too strong for the Championship outfit in the end.