Chelsea made a very rocky start to the game, and Billing twice could’ve put the home side ahead in the first five minutes. But Chelsea survived and eventually settled down to grow into the game. After the first quarter of an hour, it was all Blues.
But as in the first game this season, Bournemouth were staying compact and disciplined, letting Chelsea pass the ball around in midfield but closing spaces and angles in the final third. Eventually, Chelsea’s patience paid off however and Alonso smashed a volley into the back of the net after Giroud had managed to get a balletic effort on goal but off the crossbar
Chelsea took that 1-0 lead into half time, and should’ve made it two almost immediately after the restart. But Giroud put his effort from an Alonso low cross wide of the post.
It felt like a turning point, and it proved to be one as well.
Bournemouth, emboldened by that miss, scored a quickfire double, two goals in three minutes not ten minutes later: the first from a set piece, the second from a quick attack with Chelsea in shambles.
Eleven of the last fifteen Premier League goals conceded by Chelsea have come from a set-piece.
— CarefreeYouth (@CarefreeYouth) February 29, 2020
Lampard rang the changes and the tactical shift helped settle the Blues down. But even though it was practically one-way traffic for 20-25 minutes, with Chelsea camped out in the final third, the blues could not find a way through.
And that seemed like precisely how things would end, until Pedro’s powerful drive drew a good save from Ramsdale but Alonso was again at the right spot at the right time with the right finish, heading in to draw the visitors level, 2-2.
Chelsea had a couple chance to win it at the end, but it was not meant to be.
Carefree.
- Lampard sticking with the 3-4-3 for the third game running, making two changes from the starting lineups against Spurs and Bayern, with Tomori returning at long last to replace Rüdiger and Pedro coming in for Ross Barkley.
- Change of shape to a 4-2-3-1 just past the hour mark with Willian and Barkley on for Jorginho and Tomori. Batshuayi like-for-like for Giroud to better fit the new shape.
- Chelsea increase gap over Manchester United just behind to four points. They play tomorrow, away to Everton.
- Next up: Liverpool in the FA Cup on Tuesday
- KTBFFH