23 min: Petrovic comes for Danilo’s inswinger but can only flap the ball in the direction of Chris Wood, who steers his header over the gaping goal. We’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and say he was unsighted by a defender standing in his way but he probably should have scored.

22 min: Callum Hudson-Odoi cuts in from the left and tees up Ryan Yates. His shot high over the bar takes a nick off a defender and Forest win a corner.

19 min: Chris Wood gets on the end of an Ola Aina ball from deep at the far post but his header across the face of goal is intercepted by Badiashile. The flag goes up as Wood was offside.

The goal stands! The City Ground erupts for a second time as VAR John Brooks gives his colleague Tony Harrington the all-clear to award the goal. It was tight but Willy Boly was played onside by Badiashile as the ball was sent into the penalty area.

Forest equalise! Morgan Gibbs-White sends the free-kick into the Chelsea penalty area, where Willy Boly had held his run before heading home unmarked from about six ards. His header goes in off Conor Gallagher but there’s a VAR Check for offside.

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15 min: Benoit Badiashile is booked for a trip on Murillo as the Forest defendder bore down on the Chelsea penalty area. Free-kick for Forest … and they’ve scored.

13 min: Cole Palmer’s perfectly weighted through ball in the build-up to Chelsea’s opener looks more and more exquisite with each replay. What a wonderful signing he has been for Chelsea and who knows how far down the table they would be without him?

12 min: A Nicolas Jackson pull-back through the legs of Murillo fails to pick out a Chelsea player and Forest clear their lines from the edge of the six-yard box.

10 min: Ryan Yates scored his first Premier League goal last weekend and looks hell bent on getting his second one today. On this occasion he shoots high over the bar after pouncing on a loose ball from Marc Cucurella.

Chelsea lead! Mykhailo Mudryk scores his fifth goal oif the campaign and it’s a beauty created by Cole Palmer, who threaded the ball through the eye of a needle, taking out the entire Forest defence. The Ukrainian runs in behind from the left and strokes the ball into the far corner.

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View image in fullscreen

7 min: Forest win a throw-in deep in Chelsea territory and Ola Aina Delaps the ball towards Ryan Yates at the far post. It’s an astonishing throw-in but the midfielder is unable to steer his header on target.

5 min: Gonzalo Montiel canters down the right flank and tries to pick out Wood with a cross to the near post. Thiago Silva stoops to intercept with his head.

4 min: Once a shining star of the Chelsea youth academy only to be let go by the club, Nottingham Forest winger Callum Hudson-Odoi is making his 100th Premier League appearance today.

2 min: Ola Aina pings the ball forward from deep for Chris Wood to chase. He gets to it on the edge of the penalty area, beating Benoit Badiashile for pace and tries to lob the ball over the onrushing Djordje Petrovic. The Chelsea goalkeeper spots the Kiwi’s intention and catches the ball before it sails over his head.

1 min: Conor Gallagher gets the ball rolling for Chelsea and there’s a party atmosphere at the City Ground, where the fans have been buoyed by the news of Burnley and Luton’s defeats earlier this afternoon.

Not long now: Referee Tony Harrington and his team of match officials lead out both sets of players for a game that is now far less significant than it could have been. A win for Chelsea will take them level on points with sixth-placed Newcastle but leave them behind Eddie Howe’s team on goal difference. Of courser, if thery can win 11-0 they would go above Newcastle while significantly improving Luton’s hopes of staying up.

Forest are safe: Burnley’s defeat at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium means they are relegated with Sheffield United, while Luton’s loss at West Ham means they are also effectively down.

Nottingham Forest will officially send them back to the Championship if they get a point against Chelsea, but so superior is their goal difference that even if they lose their final two games, Luton cannot survive without a miracle to rival that of the loaves and the fishes.

Nottingham Forest: Sels, Montiel, Boly, Murillo, Niakhate, Aina, Gibbs-White, Yates, Danilo, Hudson-Odoi, Wood.

Subs: Turner, Sangare, Kouyate, Awoniyi, Toffolo, Dominguez, Elanga, Origi, Omobamidele.

Chelsea: Petrovic, Chalobah, Thiago Silva, Badiashile, Cucurella, Caicedo, Gallagher, Madueke, Palmer, Mudryk, Jackson.

Subs: Disasi, Sterling, Bettinelli, Ugochukwu, Nkunku, James, Colwill, Gusto, Casadei.

Today’s match officials

• Referee: Tony Harrington

• Assistants: Neil Davies and Marc Perry.

• Fourth official: Craig Pawson.

• VAR: John Brooks.

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Chelsea: The club’s co-owner Todd Boehly appeared to boost Mauricio Pochettino’s chances of being kept on as manager next season as he praised the “beautiful” football being played by the team.

Chelsea: Mauricio Pochettino has suggested he would walk away from Chelsea if he were unhappy and his end-of-season job review will not only be about whether the club’s owners want to keep him. David Hytner reports …

Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Burnley: Micky van de Ven has put Spurs 2-1 up against Burnley, whose relegation will be confirmed if they do not win this game.

West Ham 3-1 Luton Town: News that George Earthy has come off the West Ham bench to score against Luton Town could prompt the popping of champagne corks in the Nottingham Forest dressing-room. As things stand, they’re all but mathematically safe even if they lose their two remaining matches.

Good news for Forest: Thomas Soucek has just given West Ham a 2-1 lead against Luton, which could make Nottingham Forest’s job tonight a whole lot easier. A point for Forest will officially send Luton and Burnley down with Sheffield United and even if they lose, they will be fine because of a superior goal difference that is as good as a point. That’s as things stand, of course.

• View the Premier League table

Ola Aina interview: The Nottingham Forest defender on being the fastest player in Serie A, happy times at Chelsea’s academy and why he loves the City Ground. Words: Ed Aarons.

While Neco Williams remains sidelined with a thigh injury, Willy Boly, Nicolas Dominguez, Taiwo Awoniyi and Murillo all returned from injury to feature in Nottingham Forest’s matchday squad against Sheffield United and all four players spent time on the pitch during that win and could start today. Awoniyi is certainly likely to come in for the misfiring Chris Wood up front.

During his press conference yesterday, Mauricio Pochettino expressed his delight that so many of his lame and halt players have returned to full fitness while simultaneously bemoaning the fact that their recoveries have coincided with the end of the season.

Axel Disasi, Levi Colwell Raheem Sterling, Malo Gusto and Christopher Nkunku all returned to the Chelsea squad for last weekend’s rout of West Ham but Ben Chilwell, Romeo Lavia, Enzo Fernandez, Wesley Fofana and Carney Chukwuemeka all remain sidelined. Reece James is also back in full training after five months out with a serious hamstring injury and the England defender could feature at some point this evening.

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It’s taken a fair old while but Chelsea arrive at the City Ground having shown signs they’re finally beginning to gel as a team and will be hoping to continue their good form against a Nottingham Forest side that is battling to avoid the drop.

At the time of writing we don’t know exactly what Nuno Espirito Santo’s side need to do to boost their survival hopes but with Luton Town being held at West Ham, a point for Forest, with their vastly superior goal difference, will keep them up and send the Hatters down this evening in all but arithmetic. We’ll know for certain long before kick-off at 5.30pm (BST).