
Nottingham Forest vs. Chelsea Betting Tips: Two bets for New Year's Day duel

Two Premier League matches take place on New Year's Day, the second of which comes at the City Ground where Nottingham Forest take on Chelsea at 4.30pm.
Scott Thornton has previewed the match and highlighted two tips...
Nottingham Forest were comprehensively beaten at Old Trafford in their first game back. They conceded 3 goals and offered very little going forward. They currently sit in 19th place. Steve Cooper’s side had improved before the World Cup break and they will be hoping to put together a good run.
Chelsea were under pressure going into the break. However, they put in a solid display against a Bournemouth side that looked toothless at Stamford Bridge. Graham Potter faces a battle to get his team into the Champions League for next season. Consecutive victories ahead of what looks set to be a busy January Transfer Window is just what the doctor ordered.
Reece James was forced off in Chelsea’s last match and is unlikely to feature here. N'Golo Kante, Wesley Fofana and Ben Chilwell are the other notable absentees for Potter. Dean Henderson returns to the Forest net after being unavailable against his parent club.
Forest have met Chelsea three times in various club competitions since 2016. They have lost all of them; scoring just once and conceding 9 across the three matches.
Nottingham Forest vs Chelsea Tips
Chelsea looked much more accomplished in their last game. They were on a run of five league matches without a win prior to the start of the World Cup.
There is no doubting Graham Potter’s managerial credentials after his stint with Brighton but it could take time for him to stamp his authority on this Chelsea side. The break looks to have done them good. He has had time to work with some of his squad that didn’t go to Qatar and evaluate his team. Expect Chelsea to put in another solid display against a Forest side that are struggling at the bottom of the table.
Forest have nine defeats in 16 league matches this season. While Chelsea have had their struggles, I still expect them to have the quality to hurt Cooper’s side on Sunday.
Forest are averaging 16.75 tackles per game in the league this season. This drops slightly to 16.5 when they play in front of their own fans. They have played four matches against the so-called ‘big 6’ and are averaging 18.75 tackles per game across those matches.
In Forest’s last five matches they have made 17, 21, 18, 25 and 19 tackles.
Chelsea’s opponents in the league this season are averaging 19.53 tackles per game. This climbs to 21.38 tackles per game when Chelsea play away from home.
In Forest’s matches against the ‘big 6’ they have lost three and won one.
They were beaten 3-0, 5-0 and 6-0 by Man United, Arsenal and Man City. They beat Liverpool 1-0.
Chelsea could put them to the sword in a similar fashion on Sunday so I’m backing them to win by at least a two goal margin for our longshot.
Four of Chelsea’s opponents in eight matches away from home have had 23 tackles or more this season.
Forest have shown a lot of fight out of possession in their most recent matches and could easily make a high number of tackles here.