Date: Saturday 14th
September 2024
Venue: Vitality Stadium
Kick-off: 20:00 BST
Another international break out of the way and tonight, it’s back to the
Premier League, and a trip to Bournemouth.
Last time out, we drew against Crystal Palace. It started well enough but as has been the case a lot over the last couple of years, we had half a game in us at best before we ran out of ideas/steam/enthusiasm (*delete as appropriate). All fur coat and no knickers springs to mind.
We also appear to have the attention span of toddlers
defensively. That will cost us against sides like Bournemouth, who aren’t goal shy.
In fact, they’ve only failed to score in 3 of 33 Premier League games. Chelsea,
meanwhile, are generous to a fault away from home.
Still, despite the chaos all around us, one this is certain –
we’ve no idea what we’ll get tonight.
.
MANAGER’S VIEWS
Going into
today’s game, Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola, says “I think we will have
to be adjusting every minute. It’s going to be tactically very demanding. They
go inside with the ten and the right winger, the ten and the left winger. They
use a lot of different things and you cannot prepare the team for everything. I
think we will have to adjust and I hope we are ready, but I think it’s going to
be a difficult challenge because we don’t want to lose our identity, our
nature, but the things we do probably are also good for them.
If we go
to a game that is very, very open, you are risking that they are going to have
a lot of chances also. They are very clinical when they have the chances. So we
will have to be all the time, sometimes running, sometimes controlling, and it
is not going to be easy.
They
are a team that in these three first Premier League games, they have used three
different structures because they have a lot of different players, a lot of
different alternatives, according to the things you do, they will do other
things and it’s not easy to know how they will play. We have to prepare for a
lot of different options. For me, they’ve played really, really well. They’re
going to be very good this season, I think, they’ve lost against City only and
I think it’s going to be a very, very difficult game.”
Enzo
Maresca meanwhile, says “We used this international break to try something
new for the future that we can use. Also on some defensive work to try and find
some balance. It doesn’t mean we’re not defending well. I also used the international break to
review the games and these type of things. It’s true we concede goals but it’s
also true the first shot against Palace was the goal. We didn’t concede many
chances against City, which is strange against City.
We also scored from set-pieces, you don’t
have to just watch the goals we concede. We are going to concede from
set-pieces and score from set-pieces. I feel very lucky because we have many
players that can play in different positions. All of the targets we were
looking at, they are all here. In terms of players we were looking at that
didn’t arrive, it’s because it’s not on our condition.”
SQUAD NEWS
For Bournemouth, Dango Ouattara (ankle), and Tyler Adams (back) are out. Enes Unal (foot),
Philip Billing (back) and David Brooks could return, whilst Kepa Arrizabalaga
is ineligible to face us.
For Chelsea, Reece James, Malo Gusto, and
Romeo Lavia (all thigh) are all expected to remain out, although Cole Palmer
(thigh) should feature. Jadon Sancho could make his first appearance.
TEAMS
BOURNEMOUTH (Possible line-up): Travers; Araujo, Zabarnyi, Huijsen, Kerkez; Scott, Cook; Semenyo,
Kluivert, Sinisterra; Evanilson
CHELSEA (Possible line-up): Sanchez; Disasi, Fofana, Colwill,
Cucurella; Fernandez, Caicedo; Madueke, Palmer, Felix; Jackson
LAST SEASON
Bournemouth 0-0 Chelsea
(17 September 2023)
CURRENT FORM (PL)
BOURNEMOUTH: DDW
CHELSEA: LWD
OTHER STUFF
- Bournemouth are without a win in the past five
Premier League meetings.
- Chelsea have lost just one of their seven
Premier League away games against Bournemouth.
- Bournemouth are unbeaten in their opening three
games of this season.
- Four of Bournemouth’s five Premier League
goals this season have come after the 86th minute.
- Chelsea have failed to keep a clean sheet in
their last 20 away games in all competitions, their longest such run since
1993-94
- Chelsea could win four consecutive Premier
League away games for the first time since April 2022.
PREDICTION
Sportsmole: Bournemouth 1-2 Chelsea
