Premier League: Chelsea vs Bournemouth

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Match Preview

Chelsea are aiming to recover from a slump in form that has yielded two points from four Premier League matches when they host Bournemouth on Tuesday.

Enzo Maresca’s side have fallen four points behind third-placed Nottingham Forest following surprise defeats at home to Fulham and away to Ipswich Town in between draws at Everton and Crystal Palace.

Maresca is consistently keen to play down talk that Chelsea were ever title contenders this season, and fifth-placed Newcastle are now a point behind his team, with Manchester City a point below the Magpies.

Seventh-placed Bournemouth would move level on points with Chelsea with a victory, and their confidence should be high after going a club-record eight top-flight games unbeaten courtesy of a 1-0 home win over Everton on January 4.

Andoni Iraola’s Cherries are strengthening their hopes of European qualification with every passing week, and their five wins across those eight matches have included victory at home to Tottenham and a 3-0 thrashing of Manchester United at Old Trafford for a second successive season.

The Spaniard says Bournemouth “have to be better” than they were in their 1-0 home defeat to Chelsea on September 14, when they had seven of the 10 attempts on target between the teams but were beaten by Christopher Nkunku’s 86th-minute goal.

“We will need a very, very good performance,” said Iraola. “We will probably need to improve our finishing. It’s not difficult to understand what [Chelsea] do, [but] it’s difficult to stop them.

“It’s going to be challenging for us but, I hope, also challenging for them, because we have good threats.”

Maresca described Bournemouth as “very tough” and attributed their success to a “press with real intensity which makes it difficult for teams”.

‘They always try to be intense and it’s quite clear what they do on and off the ball,” he observed. “They are direct, physically very strong and quick.”

Chelsea vs Bournemouth team news

Wideman Reece James and midfielder Romeo Lavia made their returns for 45 minutes of Chelsea’s 5-0 FA Cup win at home to fourth-tier Morecambe on Saturday, and Maresca has said both players are ready to feature against Bournemouth.

The Italian added that England forward Noni Madueke is back in contention following illness. Midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall is a doubt after missing the thrashing of The Shrimps, while Benoit Badiashile has a thigh issue and fellow centre-back Wesley Fofana may not play again this season because of a hamstring injury.

Bournemouth’s strikers appear to have been cursed since the start of the year, with Evanilson breaking a bone in a foot against Everton and Enes Unal suffering a second serious knee injury of his career during training last week.

Daniel Jebbison is now Iraola’s only senior out-and-out striker, and the 21-year-old picked a welcome time to score his first goal of the season in their 5-1 FA Cup win over West Bromwich Albion on Saturday, having been recalled from his loan at Watford.

The former England youth international had not scored in his first 16 matches of 2024/25 in the Championship and Premier League, although only four of those were starts.

On-loan Kepa Arrizabalaga, whose £71.6 million move from Athletic Bilbao to Chelsea in 2018 still makes him the most expensive goalkeeper in history, is ineligible to play against his parent club, while new defender Julio Soler is on Argentina Under-20 duty.

There is better news in midfielder, where Iraola has confirmed that Ryan Christie is in contention after missing the visit of West Brom.

Chelsea vs Bournemouth expected line-ups

Chelsea: Sanchez; Gusto, Adarabioyo, Colwill, Cucurella; Fernandez, Caicedo; Neto, Palmer, Sancho; Jackson

Bournemouth: Travers; Hill, Zabarnyi, Huijsen, Kerkez; Christie, Cook; Semenyo, Kluivert, Brooks; Ouattara




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