Chelsea return to Champions League after win at Nottingham Forest

Chelsea's Levi Colwill struck in the second half to send his team back to the Champions League for the first time in three seasons with a 1-0 victory at Nottingham Forest on Sunday.

Enzo Maresca's men, the youngest side in league history, finished fourth in the table on 69 points in the crowded chase for European qualification, while Forest, who had Champions League dreams of their own in their best season in decades, had to settle for seventh on 65 points.

Colwill broke the deadlock of an intense game at the City Ground in the 50th minute when Forest defender Neco Williams struggled to head the ball clear and Pedro Neto was there to poke the ball across goal for Colwill to tap into the empty net, as the Chelsea fans behind Matz Sels's goal erupted.

"Amazing, we’ve grinded it out all season and today for these fans, we hope they’re happy and get to see some Champions League next season," Colwill said.

"We did it and we’re proud, as a club, we’re back where we should be."

Chris Wood missed a chance to equalise at the death when Sels drilled a terrific ball into the box and Wood stretched to get his foot on it but chipped it over the bar from close range, prompting agonised groans from the Forest faithful.

While Chelsea's goal seemed to knock the stuffing out of Forest, their season will be deemed a success.

They were tipped for another relegation battle by many before a remarkable turnaround under Nuno Espirito Santo saw them parked among the top five for much of the season and dreaming of a return to Europe's elite club competition for the first time in more than 40 years.

As it is they will return to European competition next season, for the first time since the 1995-96 campaign, in the Conference League.

"After a game like this and the things that happened on the pitches, we didn't achieve the dream," Espirito Santo said. "We knew one goal could change everything, and that's what the perception does to you -- what if?"