Chelsea deliver triple blow to Nottingham Forest in latest injury news ahead of Sunday

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Nottingham Forest host Chelsea in a Champions League decider on Sunday, but the visitors will be boosted by some welcome injury news.

Injuries were the topic of Nuno Espírito Santo’s pre-match press conference as he revealed that Murillo hadn’t trained this week after twisting his ankle in the 2-1 win over West Ham.

Espírito Santo laughed off links with Roma in an attempt to keep all focus on Sunday’s task, with only a win enough to give Forest a chance of Champions League football next season.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
4	NewcastleNewcastle	37	20	6	11	68	46	22	66
5	ChelseaChelsea	37	19	9	9	63	43	20	66
6	Aston VillaAston Villa	37	19	9	9	58	49	9	66
7	Nottm ForestNottingham Forest	37	19	8	10	58	45	13	65
8	BrightonBrighton	37	15	13	9	62	58	4	58
9	BrentfordBrentford	37	16	7	14	65	56	9	55

While the Murillo news was disappointing, Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca was able to deliver a much more positive update on his side’s wellbeing.

Chelsea boost as three players are fit to face Nottingham Forest

Roy Keane predicted Forest would lose to Chelsea, whereas Gary Neville predicted the opposite, emphasising just how evenly matched the two sides will be on Sunday with all that is at stake.

Any slight boost for either side could be crucial, then, and it looks as if Maresca and Chelsea are the lucky ones given the Italian’s injury update during his pre-match press conference.

He said: “Christo [Nkunku] is available, he’s been working with us in the last few days, being part of the training sessions. Marc Guiu is the same. They can both be available for the next game.

“Reece James is okay, he will be part of the squad. As I’ve said previously, he has his own programme because we are trying to protect him [after his injury]. We are managing him in both the games and the training sessions that we have. But Reece is fine, and he is available for Sunday.”

The availability of two attackers and the club captain is certainly a win for Maresca and Chelsea, who will need all the help they can get in the fiery atmosphere of the City Ground.

Although Maresca did hint at rotation in his Chelsea squad, with this not being their final match of the season.

Chelsea could rotate ahead of UEFA Conference League final

Sunday is do or die for the Forest squad, who will leave it all out there as it is their final shot at achieving that elusive top-five finish.

For Chelsea, though, there is an added complication as they face Real Betis in the UEFA Conference League final on Wednesday in Poland. Therefore, Maresca did discuss the possibility of rotating parts of his preferred XI to manage the pressure of the upcoming final.

He said: “Right now the focus is on Sunday against Forest, that is the most important game right now. I always say that the next fixture is always the most important. Then, we will focus on Wednesday.

“We will need to make changes for these games, for sure. We will need to rotate and change things for the game [on Wednesday], because we don’t have enough time to recover players and recover the energy in that period from Sunday to Wednesday.”

With Champions League football on the line, its hard to imagine that Chelsea will rotate too heavily, but any advantage is a good advantage for the Forest coaching staff on Sunday.