Nottingham Forest draw at Chelsea to inch toward EPL survival

LONDON: Taiwo Awoniyi’s second goal of the day helped relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest draw with Chelsea 2-2 in the English Premier League on Saturday after Raheem Sterling’s quick-fire goals at Stamford Bridge. Awoniyi, who also netted twice last week, opened the scoring in the 13th minute with a powerful header and nodded home again just past the hour mark, shortly after Sterling equalized and put Chelsea in front with goals seven minutes apart. The draw inched Forest closer to safety, with Steve Cooper’s team in 16th place and three points above the relegation zone with two games remaining.

Forest host Arsenal next weekend and end their season at Crystal Palace. Chelsea are winless in their past six league games at Stamford Bridge as their disappointing season grind toward completion. The Blues are in 11th place.

Sterling’s performance was a positive development for interim manager Frank Lampard. The England forward scored from Trevor Chalobah’s pass in front of the net in the 51st minute and then beat a defender to curl one home seven minutes later. Awoniyi just needed a glancing header from Orel Mangala’s pass to level the score in the 62nd.