67 points clear at the top, Chelsea bring it to Forest

Once, a trip to Nottingham Forest carried the weight of old English football, a place where the noise came down from the stands and the champions were made to earn everything. For Chelsea, though, Forest has become a routine errand. Three meetings, three wins, eight goals scored, one conceded, and not a single point for the home side in this fixture since the autumn of 2062.

On Monday night the two clubs meet again, and the gulf could hardly be drawn more sharply. Chelsea sit top of the English Premier Division on 67 points from 24 games, 30 clear of the side in second and already through to the latter stages of Europe. Nottingham Forest are fifth, level on 37 points with Manchester United and Everton, and their recent league form — a draw at Everton, a defeat at Wolves — has loosened a grip that once looked firmer.

The home side will have to manage without two of their own. Nikolaj Jeppesen is out with a hip injury and Ivan Ivic with a lower back stress fracture, while Chelsea travel with only Jairzinho missing through sprained ankle ligaments. The champions won 2-0 at Southampton this afternoon and 7-0 against Sheffield United a week ago; Forest's last league win came at home to Aston Villa on 6 January.

There is an old-boy angle worth watching. Roberto Baggio spent two seasons at Forest, scoring eight goals in 44 games, and Joaquín a season before him. Baggio left without a trophy; at Chelsea he has found the silverware that never came his way on the banks of the Trent. He will know exactly what reception awaits, and exactly what a goal against his former club would mean.

Forest's task is plain and unromantic: keep the ball, keep their shape, and find a way to hurt a side that has conceded only 14 goals in the league all season. The last time they managed even a draw against the Blues in this fixture, none of the current Forest squad had yet been born. Monday asks them to end a habit that has become a law.