Date: 1st February 2018 at 8:22pm
Written by:

A Blue Up North reviews a poor night for The Blues.

Chelsea finished off a busy January with a home Premier League match against Bournemouth. It was an evening full of optimism for The Blues after being on a run of only 1 defeat in their last 16 league matches and they had their 2 recent signings sat with the rest of the squad in the home dugout.

Tiemoue Bakayoko and Cesar Azpilicueta were straight back in the team after being rested over the weekend while Thibaut Courtois was back in goal after recovering from his ankle injury and Davide Zappacosta kept his place on the right flank.

However Antonio Conte’s hardest decision was going to be in picking his forward line. With no recognised first team strikers to choose from, Eden Hazard played as the central forward with Pedro playing on his right. With Willian unavailable and Charly Musonda loaned to Celtic earlier in the week, would the manager stay with a front 2 or push further forward a midfielder. He opted for the latter and picked Ross Barkley for this task. Sadly he looked like a fish out of water as most of the match completely bypassed him.

Meanwhile, Hazard kept his recent fine form going and was at the centre of all of the home side’s best play. He helped create chances regularly throughout the first half but sadly Cahill or Alonso could not keep their headers on target.

Hazard himself and Pedro both had chances well saved by Asmir Begovic in the second half but that was about all The Blues could muster. It was clear that they were lacking a true striker. Conte will be hoping Alvaro Morata will be available as soon as possible and that new signing Olivier Giroud will fit into the side immediately.

It was in defence though that the home side struggled the most. After keeping 5 clean sheets in their last 7 matches, Chelsea’s defenders would have expected to extend that record against a Bournemouth side that has been goal shy away from home in the Premier League.

There seemed to be a huge lack of communication between the back 3 as they were regularly caught out of formation and the withdrawal of the stoic Andreas Christensen due to injury on 28 minutes probably did not help their organisation.

However the main reason for Chelsea’s vulnerability at the back was due to how well as a team Bournemouth played. Their organisation and pressing was impressive. But unlike most sides who play a pressing style against a good passing side like Chelsea, The Cherries were able to play to instructions for the entire match and they managed to breach the home goal on 51 minutes and then the floodgates were open. 2 more quick strikes gave Eddie Howe’s side a deserved victory. This could well have been their best performance in 2 and a half years in the Premier League and it was probably their greatest league victory as they keep their good run of form going.

Antonio Conte will want to move on as quickly as possible. With relatively little preparation time and allowing his only recognised available striker to leave seemed to disrupt the side. Despite this, with Hazard as the focal point, Chelsea could and should have taken the lead before they succumbed to Bournemouth’s pressing barrage.

It was a bad day at the office for The Blues, but not necessarily a strong indication of things to come. With their next league match not coming til Monday evening, they will probably lose their 3rd place in the league temporarily but they will expect to bounce back to winning ways away at struggling Watford.

Written by Jon Ellis. Follow him on Twitter @ClitheroeBlue

 

Comments are closed.