Chelsea beat Bournemouth 0-1 at the Vitality Stadium in a game that could’ve gone either way. Both sides squandered multiple opportunities to score. Bournemouth came very close to scoring many times, first when Tavernier’s shot hit the crossbar early in the first half and then Christie hitting the post early in the second half. The Blues are back to winning ways in the Premier League, thanks to Christopher Nkunku’s 86th-minute winner. It was frustrating for Bournemouth, they put up a fight but earned no points and have to face Liverpool next. Chelsea are now up to 7th place in the league and with the London derby against West Ham less than a week away the team’s confidence is higher than ever.
Chelsea Vs Bournemouth review
The positives
Evanilson earned a penalty when he ran behind a poor pass by Fofana and got caught by Robert Sanchez. The Chelsea goalkeeper saved the spot kick with an excellent dive to keep the ball from hitting the bottom corner. He saved another six shots, taking his save tally for the game to seven. Sanchez was one of the best players for Chelsea against Bournemouth. Moises Caicedo was also brilliant, he won the possession back 10 times and had 4 tackles, leading the game in both categories. Sancho came on for Neto at the half and looked fabulous. He was taking fullbacks on, finding smart passes into the box determined to help his team get a goal. Levi Colwill led the team in progressive passes for the second game in a row, he is developing into Chelsea’s best ball-playing center-back. Cucurella in the new inverting into the midfield role under Maresca looks more settled than ever. In the end, Nkunku came on with 10 minutes left and when the opportunity presented itself, he scored even after being surrounded by three defenders. A calm finish under immense pressure. He has scored all of his league goals for Chelsea after coming on as a substitute at away grounds. These guys played really well and were the reason why Chelsea won, but not everyone was this good.
The negatives
Axel Disasi and Wesley Fofana were straight-up bad. They were outpaced by the opposition, leading to multiple errors. Fofana’s misdirected pass resulted in a penalty, while his careless passing in their defensive half subjected the goalkeeper and fellow teammates to intense pressure. Similarly, Disasi was slow in responding to the opposition’s movements. The defender was clueless about the positioning of his teammates and did not defend well. These two were average in the first half and the reason Caicedo and Palmer dropped deep to bail them out. Tosin replaced Disasi for the final half an hour and did a much better job.
Madueke was the only one amongst the starting front three who looked dangerous here and there but nothing to test the keeper. Jackson had a couple of great chances but couldn’t score, he came off for Nkunku in the 79th minute. Neto was average, barely touching the ball at all and had no impact on the game in the first half. The substitutions were great, Sancho for Neto changed the game for Chelsea and it won Chelsea the game.
Chelsea had 2/3rd possession only to get three of ten shots on target, whereas Bournemouth had seven on target from nineteen. Maresca has to find a way to start Nkunku and Sancho. This away victory will give Chelsea confidence, but they can’t make the same mistakes again at West Ham, next week. They were lucky to get away with three points this time, but with tougher fixtures against Liverpool, Manchester United, Newcastle and Arsenal on their way, Chelsea need to find answers to their problems.
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