Chelsea's crisis deepened with a 3-1 home defeat to Nottingham Forest, their sixth consecutive Premier League loss for the first time since 1993. The result means finishing in the top five and qualifying automatically for the Champions League is now mathematically impossible. They dropped to ninth place with a daunting trip to Anfield to face Liverpool next.

Paul Merson told Sky Sports he struggles to see how Chelsea escape their current situation, describing the club as being in a "mess". The former Arsenal midfielder questioned whether world-class managers would now want the Stamford Bridge job, pointing to a squad of 20 players on long-term contracts who are consistently outrun by opponents.

Merson criticized Chelsea's recruitment strategy, highlighting how players like Moises Caicedo, Reece James, and Cole Palmer have been given lucrative new deals despite already being on extended contracts. He warned that selling underperforming players would be extremely difficult given their lengthier deals and the Financial Fair Play constraints.