Chelsea's Robert Sanchez in action.
Credit: Reuters Photo
London: Nottingham Forest earned a 1-1 draw at Chelsea on Sunday despite going down to 10 men in the 78th minute, after they kept the hosts at bay in an often frenzied Premier League encounter involving a host of second-half chances and a pitchside melee.
After a slow-burn first half with the visitors' well organised defence keeping Chelsea at arm's length, it was Forest who scored first when a classic James Ward-Prowse free kick found defender Nikola Milenkovic at the back post in the 50th minute and the Serbian nodded the ball across goal and Chris Wood tapped it home.
The match sprang into life and six minutes later Chelsea exploited a rare crack in Forest's highly-disciplined defence when the ever-busy Noni Madueke latched on to a Cole Palmer ball, cut inside and sent it into the bottom corner.
The result kept Chelsea, who enjoyed more than 66 per cent possession, in fourth place, but dropped them three points behind Arsenal in third. Nottingham Forest are 10th.
Forest were reduced to 10 men when Ward-Prowse grabbed the ball on the ground to stop Nicolas Jackson running free on goal and received a second yellow card.
The Midlands side did not just sit back and defend, however, instead taking the game to Chelsea. Robert Sanchez kept out a series of chances, notably from substitutes Neco Williams and Jota Silva as the game opened up.
Williams sparked the pitchside confrontation after his challenge on Marc Cucurella sent the full back sprawling into the technical area upending his coach Enzo Maresca.
Players from both sides and from the bench rushed to the scene jostling and pushing each other.
The melee and a long injury stoppage for Morgan Gibbs-White led to referee Christopher Kavanagh adding 13 minutes of stoppage time.
Matz Sels kept Forest in the game with impressive saves from Palmer, Christopher Nkunku and Malo Gusto in a breathless end to the game.