Jamie Carragher brands Chelsea a 'BROKEN club' and insists their rotten form 'comes from the top'

Jamie Carragher has torn into Chelsea after their abject home defeat by Nottingham Forest on Bank Holiday Monday.

The Blues were embarrassed 3-1 by relegation-threatened Forest - who fielded a second-string side with one eye on Thursday's Europa League semi-final second-leg at rivals Aston Villa.

It was Chelsea's sixth-straight loss in the Premier League as their Champions League qualification hopes are now mathematically impossible.

In fact, ninth-placed Chelsea (48 points) are closer to 16th-placed Forest (42 points) than Aston Villa (58 points) who occupy the final Champions League spot in fifth.

Reflecting on what he saw at Stamford Bridge, Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher didn't hold back in his analysis of the hosts.

'It's shocking and it comes from the top,' said Carragher. 'There's five or six really top players on the pitch today and they've been beaten by Nottingham Forest's B team.

'Less than 12 months ago, they were taking PSG to the cleaners.

'There's no connection between the players and the staff, the players and the fans.

'In some ways, it's a good thing because it tells you that football isn't just all about spending money, buying players and this revolving door.

'It's about creating togetherness and there's nothing there. They look like a broken football club right now.'

Carragher's words were a precursor to angry Chelsea interim boss Calum McFarlane who blasted his players' performance as 'unacceptable' as they trailed 2-0 inside 15 minutes.

'The first 15 minutes were unacceptable,' said McFarlane, who replaced the sacked Liam Rosenior less than two weeks ago. 'The manner in which the two goals were conceded really set us back. It gave ourselves a mountain to climb.

'You can't do that at this level, especially against a team that's fighting for their life. I don't think we ever got to our level, that we know we're capable of. I know this group. They are driven. They want what's best for themselves, they want what's best for this club, and we're going to do everything we can to try and win every single game we can from now to the end of the season.'

Chelsea's most impressive player was Jesse Derry, an 18-year-old from the academy who was making his first senior start in the absence of Alejandro Garnacho and Pedro Neto, who both picked up minor problems.

However, Derry suffered a sickening head collision with Forest's Zach Abbott before half-time, which saw the Blues teenager taken to hospital for checks, with his father, Shaun, accompanying him. As of Monday evening, we are told the youngster was conscious, and talking.

Forest's Morgan Gibbs-White and Chelsea's Robert Sanchez likewise clashed heads, with both unable to continue at Stamford Bridge. However, neither change went down as a concussion substitute, with Forest boss Pereira saying Gibbs-White had a 'deep cut' and 'remembers everything' as he hopes he will be fit to face Villa this week.

On making eight changes to his line-up but still winning with ease, Pereira said: 'In the end, I said to my players, "I can change you, the players, but I will not change the spirit of this team".

'This team is resilient, they are playing with confidence, united and with organisation and ambition to win. We didn't come here to draw, we came here to win.'