Date: Saturday 29th February 2020
Venue: Vitality Stadium
Kick-off: 15:00 GMT
After the high of beating Spurs again
last weekend, we came back to earth with a bang midweek after a reality check
from Bayern. It’s been that sort of a season.
It’s Bournemouth away for us today, a
side who’ve already beaten us at Stamford Bridge this season, making it three
wins in four against us. They’re also a side who know how it feels to be on the
wrong side of VAR, and they suffered a defeat to Burnley in their last game as
a result.
So, both sides come into today’s game
off the back of demoralising defeats and neither are being done any favours by the
technology this season, so all things pretty even really – except, only one of
us has made a habit out of losing more games against bottom-half clubs than top-half
teams this season!
MANAGER’S VIEWS
Going
into today’s game, Bournemouth manager Eddi Howe, says “We’ve enjoyed the last two home games,
the crowd have been exceptional for us. We’re going to need them as much as
ever going into the final games of the season.”
Chelsea manager Frank Lampard, meanwhile, says
“Our last Premier League performance was very, very good, so we have to
carry on from that. I wouldn’t relate
the Bayern loss to the win over Spurs, but in the bigger picture it was a
lesson for the players, because we played against very, very high-level
opposition, and they were better than us on the night in most departments. And that’s probably a reality check for all
of us here. At the minute we’re in fourth place, which people probably didn’t
quite expect, and we have to fight until the end for fourth.”
SQUAD NEWS
For Bournemouth, David Brooks (ankle), Arnaut Danjuma (foot), Chris Mepham
(knee), Lloyd Kelly (thigh) and Charlie Daniels (knee) are all injured. Nathan Ake (head) and Jefferson Lerma
(rib) are available.
For Chelsea, van Ginkel (ACL), Christian
Pulisic, Callum Hudson-Odoi (hamstring) and N’Golo Kante remain out. Tammy
Abraham (ankle) is also sidelined again but Ruben Loftus-Cheek is in the squad.
TEAMS
BOURNEMOUTH (Possible
line-up): Ramsdale; Smith, Cook, Ake, Rico; Gosling, Lerma, Billing; H.Wilson,
C.Wilson, King
CHELSEA (Possible
line-up): Caballero; James, Zouma, Rudiger, Azpilicueta; Barkley, Jorginho,
Kovacic; Willian, Mount; Giroud
LAST SEASON
Bournemouth 4-0 Chelsea (30th January 2019)
CURRENT FORM (PL)
BOURNEMOUTH: LLWWLL
CHELSEA: WLDDLW
OTHER STUFF
- Bournemouth have
won three of the past four Premier League meetings.
- Bournemouth are
looking to do the double over us today.
- Chelsea have won
seven of the past 10 meetings in all competitions.
- Bournemouth have
won their last two home games.
- Bournemouth have
recorded only three wins in 16 league fixtures, losing 12.
- Bournemouth have
kept only one clean sheet in 16 league matches.
- Chelsea are looking
to secure consecutive Premier League victories for the first time since
November.
- Chelsea are winless
away from home in the Premier League in 2020.
- Chelsea’s return of
23 points on the road is bettered only by Manchester City and Liverpool.
- Chelsea have
conceded a league-high 45% of the shots on target they’ve faced this season.
PREDICTION
BBC Sport: Bournemouth 0-2 Chelsea
Sky Sports: Bournemouth 2-2 Chelsea
Sportsmole: Bournemouth 2-2 Chelsea
