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From title challengers to top-four contenders to reviving the undercurrent of dissatisfaction with the club’s direction, quite the slide for Chelsea. The returning Thomas Tuchel will have seen few of the players he left behind in 2022 but he will, though, have been reminded of the permanent jeopardy of being Chelsea manager.
Previously a safe pair of hands guiding the Chelsea project, Enzo Maresca’s formula for success is wobbling. His team showed a combination of callowness and profligacy, struggling with a spirited Bournemouth team stripped to bare bones. It took an added-time free-kick from Reece James, openly criticised by Maresca, his Chelsea career hampered by injury, and a survivor from Tuchel’s time, to prevent defeat.
A strong-arm Chelsea approach created chances from the opening seconds, Enzo Fernández losing his footing when the goal beckoned. Meanwhile, Bournemouth’s David Brooks had already taken an almighty crunch to the chops from Marc Cucurella.
Next, Jadon Sancho and Cole Palmer combined, only for Palmer’s usually trusty left foot to malfunction. No worries here. Palmer’s goal soon came, Nicolas Jackson spinning off Illia Zabarnyi, the finish full of customary swagger.
Bournemouth were struggling to exert usual energy levels, Iraola’s selection reflecting a squad bearing a heavy load; he had only 12 senior players to call on, no fit strikers. At 19, Dean Huijsen has become one of those seniors. In the spirit of the January window, the Dutchman was one of four starters currently linked with Chelsea – Milos Kerkez, Antoine Semenyo and Zabarnyi completed the quartet, though the latter might be dropped from the list after being given a hard time by Jackson.
Talking of which, Chelsea’s hopes of selling the misfiring Axel Disasi open the door for Josh Acheampong in defence. The teenager is understood to be a favourite among the club’s hierarchy. As the club’s PA announcer noted in Stamford Bridge’s Americanised pre-match festivities – including kiss cam –the average age of Chelsea’s squad is under 23.
Maresca left Christopher Nkunku on the bench, perhaps mindful of the Frenchman’s winner as a substitute when the teams met in September. Sancho, that goal’s supplier, was one of 10 changes from the weekend’s stroll past Morecambe. Such are the benefits of big squads. No such luxury for Iraola, forced to bring on his sole senior substitute, Justin Kluivert, when James Hill pulled up in the 23rd minute. It meant the captain, Lewis Cook, moved to emergency full-back.
In midfield, Romeo Lavia’s return has freed up Fernández to make his bull-like, barrelling runs, and plenty more first-half chances resulted. The other side of Jackson was seen after Huijsen was turned inside out by Noni Madueke’s run and the chance missed horribly.
Iraola called for more energy from his team but appeared exhausted himself while doing so. His shoulders sagged after Kluivert hit the post and Chelsea blasted back on the counter and Jackson struck the post too.
After 13 first-half shots to a single Kluivert effort, Chelsea ought to have been able to consign their recent travails to history. Instead, Bournemouth regrouped, Semenyo turned inside Moisés Caicedo, another midfielder playing full-back, and a penalty was duly awarded. Caicedo’s face betrayed guilt and his clumsiness. Kluivert, having scored three from the spot against Wolves, comfortably sent Robert Sánchez the wrong way.
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As if Maresca was correcting a player playing out of position, Reece James was thrown on at full-back and Caicedo restored to midfield, Lavia departing. Chelsea would be required to ride out a red and black storm, Bournemouth now brimming with vigour. Too much perhaps? Brooks, almost certainly seeking revenge for the early fracas, escaped a red card – referee Rob Jones watching the offence on the screen – when seeming to pull down Cucurella by the hair.
Brooks, sent away by a reverse ball from Cook, had the shot from which Levi Colwill injured himself attempting to block. Mounting problems for Maresca and Chelsea, the Italian was frantic, scraping his cranium in Pep Guardiola-like exasperation as Jackson failed to close down Ryan Christie and Acheampong showed Semenyo too much of the inside. The Chelsea-born forward did not pass up the chance.
On came João Félix and Pedro Neto for Chelsea, panic buttons pushed. Bournemouth looked the likelier until James’s moment of redemption. Full-time was greeted with a sagging, audible ennui Tuchel would, doubtless, recognise.
