Chelsea 2-2 AFC Bournemouth, Premier League: Post-match reaction, viewership

On By Littum

Chelsea came out of the blocks with plenty of energy and intent and could have opened the scoring within the first minute.

Although it didn’t quite happen, we didn’t have to wait too long for the opening goal, Nicolas Jackson releasing Cole Palmer, who took the keeper out of his boots and finished wonderfully.

The goal didn’t change the flow of the game and Chelsea continued to dominate proceedings, creating chance after chance … but failed to convert through bad luck, big saves and some poor finishing. Bournemouth hit the post thanks to a poor giveaway at the back that reminded us of the fragility of that one-goal lead.

And unfortunately, that fragility and sloppiness came back to bite us in the second half, with Bournemouth equalizing from the penalty spot in the 50th minute.

Chelsea had plenty of time to react and the visitors should have gone to 10 men when David Brooks pulled down Marc Cucurella by the hair. Unbelievably, the referee only gave a yellow after a review on the pitch. (Is that even within the rules?)

And then Bournemouth would make further mockery of all things xG, with Semenyo hammering in an unstoppable left-footed shot from a fairly unthreatening angle to give the visitors the lead.

We had 20 minutes to play but the effortless quality shown in the first half was by then a lasting memory.

And then, just when it looked like we were going to suffer another home defeat, Captain Reece James at least salvaged a point with a lovely free-kick in stoppage time!

Carefree.

  • As expected, Josh Acheampong started at center back.
  • Caicedo with another attempt at right back, with the shape of the team changing to a WM formation in possession. That experiment ended after Bournemouth’s equaliser.
  • Once again paying for not getting the “so important second goal”
  • Another collapse in the second half, more reluctance to use subs
  • Now five without a win in the league, and even more points dropped at home
  • KTBFFH

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