Chelsea fixtures: Next five games after Arsenal defeat

There has not been much for Frank Lampard to applaud since returning to Stamford Bridge
There has not been much for Frank Lampard to applaud since returning to Stamford Bridge / Visionhaus/GettyImages
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The end of a season which promised so much cannot come soon enough for Chelsea.

Back in the summer of 2022, when Thomas Tuchel was still at the helm and Todd Boehly had taken it upon himself to act as interim sporting director, there was an undercurrent of tentative optimism when Chelsea splashed almost £250m during the summer transfer window - the most of any club in Europe's top five leagues.

A similarly extravagant window in January only served to underline the scattergun transfer strategy. Now, with a month before one of the worst seasons in Chelsea's modern history concludes, the focus is on which purchases the club will - or can -offload.

Here's what lies ahead for Chelsea's motley crew.


Bournemouth vs Chelsea - Premier League

Gary O'Neil
Gary O'Neil has steered Bournemouth to the brink of safety after taking over in August / Warren Little/GettyImages

Gary O'Neil has had the impact at Bournemouth that Chelsea's bumbling board desperately hoped Frank Lampard may inspire.

However, while O'Neil has outperformed his compatriot in the dugout, he was routinely bested on the pitch. The two English managers met in the Premier League 12 times, with Lampard's Chelsea winning all of the dozen meetings, keeping 11 clean sheets in the process.

  • 06/05/23 - Bournemouth vs Chelsea (15:00)

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Chelsea vs Nottingham Forest - Premier League

Brennan Johnson, Marc Cucurella
Nottingham Forest and Chelsea played out a 1-1 draw in January / Marc Atkins/GettyImages

Despite going more than two decades in different divisions, Chelsea have hosted Nottingham Forest at Stamford Bridge five times this century in England's cup competitions.

Forest lost each knockout tie and have not beaten the Blues in the capital since Stan Collymore nabbed a brace in January 1995.

  • 13/05/23 - Chelsea vs Nottingham Forest (15:00)

Manchester City vs Chelsea - Premier League

Frank Lampard, Pep Guardiola
Pep Guardiola (left) has beaten Lampard in three of their five head-to-heads / Laurence Griffiths/GettyImages

After losing his opening two games during his first spell at Chelsea, Lampard revealed that Pep Guardiola reached out with an encouraging voice note "saying that the way my team played was incredible, 'I loved watching it', and it was a really positive chat".

Guardiola may not be so full of praise after Chelsea's performances during Lampard's second spell but he will get the chance for an awkward face-to-face chat with the Premier League Hall of Famer later this month.

  • 21/05/23 - Manchester City vs Chelsea (16:00)

Manchester United vs Chelsea - Premier League

Frank Lampard
Frank Lampard has beaten Manchester United as manager of three different clubs (Derby County, Chelsea and Everton) / Matthew Ashton - AMA/GettyImages

Right at the start of the run which offered no points but Guardiola's praise, Lampard's debut match as Chelsea manager was a wildly misleading 4-0 defeat against Manchester United at Old Trafford in 2019.

Chelsea were indeed the better side for large swathes of a contest which ultimately ended in the club's heaviest opening-day defeat in 104 league seasons. This toothless iteration of the Blues have the capacity to record the same result this month but are unlikely to match that performance.

  • 25/05/23 - Manchester United vs Chelsea (20:00)

Chelsea vs Newcastle - Premier League

Joe Willock
Joe Willock (centre) scored the only goal when Newcastle beat Chelsea 1-0 in November / Stu Forster/GettyImages

After navigating a spiky contest in November to win 1-0 at St James' Park, Newcastle have the chance to beat Chelsea home and away for the first time in the same Premier League season.

The Blues have not lost to the Magpies at Stamford Bridge since Papiss Cisse's ridiculous double a decade ago. However, you have to spool back to the 1986/87 season to find the last time that Newcastle did the double over Chelsea.

  • 28/05/23 - Chelsea vs Newcastle (16:30)

Date / Kick-off time

Fixture

06/05/23 - 15:00

Bournemouth vs Chelsea

13/05/23 - 15:00

Chelsea vs Nottingham Forest

21/05/23 - 16:00

Manchester City vs Chelsea

25/05/23 - 20:00

Manchester United vs Chelsea

28/05/23 - 16:30

Chelsea vs Newcastle


On this edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott SaundersGraeme Bailey & Toby Cudworth discuss Chelsea's likely appointment of Mauricio Pochettino, the carnage at Tottenham and Harry Kane's next steps, David de Gea and Harry Maguire's Man Utd futures, Lionel Messi's impending Barcelona return & more!

If you can't see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!