Ange Postecoglou’s Nottingham Forest tenure came to an end after Chelsea claimed a 3-0 victory at a despondent City Ground on Saturday to make it back-to-back wins, moving the Blues up to fourth.
Forest confirmed in the immediate aftermath of the defeat that Postecoglou, who was winless in his eight games since replacing Nuno Espirito Santo, had been relieved of his duties after only 39 days in charge.
Nottingham Forest Football Club can confirm that after a series of disappointing results and performances, Ange Postecoglou has been relieved of his duties as head coach with immediate effect.
— Nottingham Forest (@NFFC) October 18, 2025
The Club will make no further comment at this time.
The hosts started well but failed to make their early dominance count and were punished when Pedro Neto teed up 19-year-old Josh Acheampong to head home his first Premier League goal in the 49th minute.
Neto swiftly compounded Forest’s frustration when sneaking a low drive through Matz Sels' hands, before Reece James' 84th-minute finish preceded Malo Gusto's needless sending-off.
The defeat leaves Forest 17th on just five points and now in search of a new manager.
How the match unfolded
Chelsea were the architects of their own early problems, twice surviving careless errors before Morgan Gibbs-White flashed a shot just wide following a poor Romeo Lavia touch.
A stretching Gibbs-White volleyed over when unmarked just moments later, while Andrey Santos blazed off target and fired narrowly wide from two chances created by Joao Pedro at the other end.
After a triple substitution at half-time, Chelsea came out flying as Neto delivered for Acheampong to head past Sels, whose handling was then poor as the Portuguese winger's 20-yard shot squirmed through his grasp following a short James free-kick three minutes later.
Joao Pedro steered wide of the bottom-left corner in trying to find Chelsea's third, though Forest saw Neco Williams slice over and Igor Jesus somehow hit both the crossbar and left-hand post with an acrobatic attempt.
Many Forest fans were already heading for the exits when James pounced following Estevao's half-cleared corner, before an impressive win was marred by Gusto's mindless late red card for a second bookable offence.
Time up for Postecoglou
Postecoglou launched an impassioned defence of his experience in Friday's pre-match press conference, referencing last season's UEFA Europa League success with Tottenham Hotspur.
Another bullish Postecoglou message may have been intended to fire up his Forest players, and it seemed to have some impact early on.
Taiwo Awoniyi dragged wide just a minute in after a poor Gusto pass before Elliot Anderson failed to pull the trigger following Trevoh Chalobah's error.
Gibbs-White then passed up back-to-back chances in quick succession, and many may have been fearing the second-half collapse that followed after Forest failed to capitalise on their strong opening.
Home frustration towards Postecoglou was evident as jeers greeted Douglas Luiz's removal in the 53rd minute, though Forest did continue to create chances before a late James sucker-punch.
Williams struggled to keep down left-wing cross with a first-time strike, and Jesus' effort somehow stayed out in a passage of play that summed up Forest's recent struggles in front of goal.
Regardless of those missed chances, Postecoglou became the first Forest boss to fail to win any of his first eight games, and not long after full-time, his time in charge was brought to an abrupt halt.
Forest will now look to make a new appointment ahead of Thursday’s UEFA Europa League match with Porto, with a trip to AFC Bournemouth following in the league.
Tactical tweaks pay for Maresca
With Cole Palmer expected to be out for another six weeks, Enzo Fernandez missing from the matchday squad and Moises Caicedo only fit enough for the bench, Enzo Maresca – serving a touchline suspension after he was sent off in Chelsea’s win over Liverpool last time out – was forced to rely on his squad players here.
That host of key absentees was notable as Chelsea lacked fluidity in the first half, creating their own problems on three occasions when unable to execute Maresca's possessional play across their backline.
The Blues did eventually settle as half-time approached, with Santos twice making late runs from midfield to link up with Joao Pedro, but failing to find the required clinical edge.
But an unimpressed Maresca still made a triple change at half-time with the introductions of Caicedo, Marc Guiu and Jamie Gittens soon having his desired effect.
Guiu won the free-kick for Neto's goal and was generally busy, while Caicedo brought a much-needed calmness to their midfield as Chelsea never looked back from Acheampong's point-blank header.
With their next league game coming at home against promoted Sunderland, Maresca will be hoping to build on back-to-back victories and set his sights on keeping up the pace at the top of the table.
Club reports
Forest report | Chelsea report
Next PL fixtures
Match facts
Postecoglou is the first manager to see his team score only one goal in his first five Premier League matches in charge since Sean Dyche at Burnley in 2014.
Forest have conceded 11 set-piece goals under Postecoglou in all competitions, over twice as many as any other Premier League club during that time.
Only three minutes and two seconds separated Chelsea’s first two goals in this match, their shortest wait between goals in a Premier League away match since May 2024, when Nicolas Jackson netted one minute and 59 minutes after Raheem Sterling at the City Ground.
Reece James made his 200th appearance for Chelsea in all competitions, both scoring and assisting in the same game for the first time since October 2022 against Milan in the UEFA Champions League.