Chelsea frustrated by Bournemouth to lose further ground on title rivals

Any momentum Chelsea had picked up in the final week of November, through outclassing Barcelona and matching Arsenal with 10 men, appears to have been stunted in December. After Wednesday’s defeat at Leeds, a point against Bournemouth is no disaster but, with Arsenal’s earlier loss to Aston Villa, it is a chance missed. Eight points separate them and the top of the Premier League.

Bournemouth took a leaf out of Leeds’s book and hounded Chelsea from the start. The visitors, behind within six minutes at Elland Road, were let off the hook twice early on. Antoine Semenyo thought he had given Bournemouth the lead when he pounced on a loose ball inside the area, only for the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) to intervene because Evanilson was marginally offside from Alex Scott’s incisive pass into the area.

The offside flag spared Reece James’s moments later. Marcus Tavernier found space on the edge of the Chelsea area and hit a shot Robert Sánchez parried in front of him. Justin Kliuvert beat James to the ball and went down, but the Dutchman’s appeals for a penalty that surely would have been given were cut short by the assistant’s flag.

A miscued clearance from Sánchez only added to Chelsea’s jitters, but they weathered the early storm. Cole Palmer, making his first league start since the opening day of the season, grew in influence and was at the heart of a move that ended with Marc Cucurella heading Pedro Neto’s cross over at the back post.

After Liam Delap was forced off with a shoulder injury, Bournemouth rallied again. Semenyo tested Sánchez and Evanilson could not toe in the rebound at the back post. Justin Kluivert and Semenyo had shots saved by Sánchez.

Chelsea were more of an attacking force after the restart. Enzo Fernández, Neto and Palmer had efforts saved by Djordje Petrovic, who left Stamford Bridge last summer, while Alejandro Garnacho headed Neto’s cross against a post. Palmer was withdrawn after an hour for João Pedro, who partnered his fellow substitute Marc Guiu up front.

Bournemouth’s combination of two right-backs, Adam Smith and Álex Jiménez, had done a decent job of nullifying Chelsea’s threat down the left. The one time Jiménez was caught upfield in the second half, Garnacho shimmied inside and bent a shot that landed just wide of the far post. Inside the last 20 minutes, and with Bournemouth struggling for impetus, Andoni Iraola rolled the dice with the introduction of Amine Adli, an out-and-out right winger, and David Brooks.

It was Semenyo who remained Bournemouth’s principal threat. In this fixture at Stamford Bridge last season, he lashed his side into a second-half lead by beating Sánchez at his near post. The Ghana international tried a similar approach with 10 minutes to go, thumping a left-foot shot that, this time, Sánchez was able to bat away.

Estevão appeared off the bench for Chelsea, but, like Neto before him, he got little change out of Bournemouth’s Adrien Truffert. Defensive sturdiness was the order of the day for Iraola who, despite the fact that Bournemouth are now winless in six, may well be pleased with a point against a Chelsea side who were alive and kicking in the race for the title this time last week. Now, not so much.