Chelsea’s league campaign draws to a close with a decisive trip to Nottingham Forest. By around 6pm local time on the east bank of the Trent the Blues will have finished as high as third in the table or as low as seventh.

It is the 38th round of an enthralling contest for the last three available Champions League places, and no one is throwing in the towel.

All final-day matches in the Premier League kick-off at 4pm on Sunday and outcomes from Fulham, who host Man City, Villa’s visit to Old Trafford, our trip to Forest and even potentially Southampton’s farewell at home to Arsenal could affect the final standings.

Enzo Maresca’s Blues beat Europa League runners-up Manchester Utd 1-0 at home last Friday and occupy the fifth qualifying place, while at West Ham on Sunday Forest claimed their second league win in seven attempts and stand seventh, one point behind.

Victory at the City Ground for the Londoners will automatically secure a top-five finish regardless of other results, though a draw could also put the Blues among the continent’s elite next season should Newcastle lose or Villa fail to win.

Forest have lost five of their last seven final-day league games played at home, including both the last two. Chelsea won 3-2 there last May with Misha Mudryk, Raheem Sterling and Nico Jackson on the scoresheet.

The Blues have lost the league season finale only twice over the past 13 years, winning eight times.

Team news

Maresca confirmed Blues forwards Christopher Nkunku and Marc Guiu were available once again following their respective injuries - a timely boost with Nicolas Jackson still suspended following his red card at Newcastle United.

The Italian was asked about Reece James' availability in his pre-match press conference after a journalist highlighted the Blues skipper was seen training alone during Tuesday's open training session. But our head coach explained how that was part of the routine management of the defender's workload following his injury problems in recent years.

Wesley Fofana remains a long-term absentee but the Blues have an almost full squad to choose from heading into a huge four days for the club, with the Conference League final - and the potential Europa League qualification which comes with lifting the trophy - also lying in wait on Wednesday.

Chelsea – the final-day history

The grand finale to the league season has served up many knife-edge moments for Chelsea, including last-gasp promotions and relegations, league titles and near-misses.

With the issues already settled the last encounters of seasons 1906/07 (4-1 over Gainsborough at Stamford Bridge), 1976/77 (4-0 at home to Hull), 1983/84 (1-0 at Grimsby) and 1988/89 (3-2 at Portsmouth) became nerve-free promotion jamborees.

The same applies to the last action after securing our wonderful title wins in 1955 (a 2-1 loss at Old Trafford), 2005 (1-1 at Newcastle), 2006 (3-1 versus Man Utd at the Bridge), 2015 (3-1 home to Sunderland) and 2017 (5-1 against the visiting Black Cats).

Similarly – prompting very different atmospheres – relegation calamities suffered in 1924 (3-1 at home to Man City in the last match), 1962 (1-1 at Burnley) and 1979 (1-1 at Old Trafford) had already been confirmed.

Other ups and downs, triumphs and shortfalls were dramatically resolved on the final day.

Relegation in 1910 came at the hands of Spurs’ former Blue Percy Humphries in a 2-1 loss, while in 1975 the worst was confirmed by a 1-1 draw with Everton - recently installed manager Eddie McCreadie’s defiant mantra that day was ‘we’ll come straight back’ and he was proved right.

In 1988 an excruciating 1-1 draw with Charlton merely prolonged the agony, as what followed was a unique relegation via the promotion play-offs.

On a more pleasant note, on 5 May 1951 the Blues bashed Bolton 4-0 on the last day to pull off one of the greatest escapes of all time. Seemingly dead in the water three weeks earlier, Willie Birrell’s men had won four in a row to stay up thanks to a minutely better goal average.

In 1912 Charlie Freeman’s winner against Bradford and Burnley’s loss at Wolves propelled the Pensioners back to Division One amid ‘delirious, almost hysterical’ scenes at the Bridge.

Similar elevation to the top tier in 1930 came in the final fixture despite losing 1-0 at Bury, while in 1963 it took a 7-0 thumping of Portsmouth to confirm the happy news.

Most extravagantly of all, in 2010 against visitors Wigan, Chelsea just had to match Man Utd’s score elsewhere, and did so several times over with a record Premier League finale scoreline of 8-0.

Know this…

Chelsea have recorded 216 shots on target in this season’s Premier League, the most by the club since having 223 in 2019/20. Only Liverpool have had more in 2024/25.

Cole Palmer has racked up 212 shots and chances created, the best tally for any Blues player since Didier Drogba in 2010/11 (150 shots, 74 chances created).

Marc Cucurella is the highest-scoring Premier League defender across all competitions this season. Up to now all his goals have been scored at Stamford Bridge.

The only time Chelsea and Forest have squared up on the last day of the season was 29 April 1961 at the Bridge, when Jimmy Greaves scored all four goals in the Blues’ 4-3 victory before joining AC Milan.

Conference League final opponents Real Betis’s request to bring their final league fixture forward from Sunday to Friday was approved, handing them 48 hours more than Chelsea to rest and prepare for Wednesday’s showdown in Wroclaw.