Chelsea 2-2 AFC Bournemouth, Premier League: Post-match reaction, ratings
Yesterday at 04:31 PM
Another frustrating tale of two halves
Chelsea came out of the blocks with plenty of energy and intent, and could've opened the scoring inside of the first minute.
While that didn't quite happen, we didn't have to wait too long for the opening goal, with Nicolas Jackson releasing Cole Palmer, who faked the goalkeeper out of his boots and finished wonderfully.
The goal did not change the flow of the game, and Chelsea continued to dominate proceedings, creating chance after chance ... but failing to cash in through bad luck, great saves, and some poor finishing as well. Bournemouth did hit the post thanks to a bad giveaway at the back, reminding us of the fragility of that one-goal lead.
And unfortunately that fragility and wastefulness did come 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 respond and the visitors should've gone to 10 men when David Brooks pulled Marc Cucurella down by his hair. Inconceivably, the referee only gave a yellow after an on-pitch review. (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 on display in the first half was a long-faded memory by then.
And then, just when it looked like we'd suffer yet another home defeat, captain Reece James at least rescued a point with a lovely free kick in stoppage time!
Carefree.
- As expected, Josh Acheampong started at center back.
- Caicedo with another try at right back, with the shape of the team shifting to a W-M formation in possession. That experiment ended after Bournemouth's equalizer.
- Once again paying for not getting that "all-important second goal"
- Another second-half collapse, more reluctance to use subs
- Now five without a win in the league, and yet more points dropped at home
- KTBFFH
