Bournemouth vs Chelsea Match Prediction
England
Vitality Stadium
The Cherries in their last game week took a trip down to London as they squared up with Brentford. Andoni Iraola’s men did not start the game in the best way as they went down to a Mathias Jensen goal in the 7th minute. Neto in goal left too much space at his near post having to later scramble the ball away from Jensen’s free kick. Goal-line technology confirmed the ball crossed the line. The Cherries had a great chance to equalise through Christie only for Solanke to snatch the ball from him before taking a shot. With Bournemouth riding the early wave of pressure the chance finally came as Solanke brought things level after he cut in from the left to fire a shot past Flekken to find the bottom corner. The game post Solanke’s goal went into an end-to-end frenzy with both the Cherries and the Bees having great chances to take the lead before half-time.
Bournemouth were lucky not to be down after halftime as Mbeumo and Janelt missed absolute sitters to put Brentford into the lead. The Bees were all over Iraola’s men and a goal for the home team looked certain. The Cherries however took the lead from nothing as Tavernier galloped onto Rico Henry’s mistake on the right to square the ball past Brooks who easily found the back of the net. Bournemouth couldn’t see out the game with the lead as Kerkez made a horrible mistake to allow Mbeumo through on goal who equalised for the Bees in the 3rd minute of stoppage time. Iraola would have been happy with a single point as it could have been nothing considering how many sitters Brentford missed.
Chelsea positively started their tie against Forest as Sterling nearly opened the scoring for the Blues in the 2nd minute. Gallagher also came close to making it 1-0 after letting fly a good shot that beat Turner in goal only to miss the goal by some inches. Forest had their first chance in the 26th minute as Awoniyi slashed the ball over Chelsea’s goal from 10 yards out. Forest was defending quite deep in their half allowing Chelsea to just take aim from a distance and Enzo came close as his shot went inches over the crossbar.
It went wrong for the Blues in the second half as Caicedo and Gallagher collided, losing the ball to Awoniyi who dodged past a couple of tackles to find release substitute Elanga who put the away side away with a neat finish past Sanchez. Chelsea after that goal had most of the ball but could not break Forest’s shape in defence. The best chance to equalise came in the 82nd minute for Chelsea as Jackson missed a golden opportunity to put the ball into the net from a Sterling cross. It could have gotten worse for Chelsea as Elanga skipped past Mudryk on the by-line and instead of squaring the ball took a shot from a tight angle leading to nothing. Forest however held on to pile more pressure on Pochettino’s men.
Facts
- Bournemouth in their history have won the 3rd highest number of games against Chelsea. The Cherries have beaten Chelsea on four occasions however, they perform better at Stamford Bridge as three of those four wins have come at Chelsea’s home ground.
- Before the double defeat to Chelsea last season, Bournemouth had quite a good record against the Blues. The Cherries won 3, drew 1 and lost only 1 of their 5 fixtures before last season’s two games.
- The recent record of Chelsea is horrendous. Pochettino’s men have won only 2 games from their last 16 in the Premier League. The Blues have drawn 5 games and have lost on 9 occasions. Chelsea’s last away win came against Bournemouth way back in May.
- Since the defeat to Chelsea in May, Bournemouth have failed to acquire three points in any of their 8 matches post that. The Cherries have drawn 2 and lost 6 of those 8 games.
- Mauricio Pochettino as a manager in the Premier League recently does not have a good record when his team travels. The Argentinian is winless in his last 13 away games as manager dating back to 2019 when he was at the helm at Tottenham Hotspur.
Bournemouth vs Chelsea Chance of Winning
The record between Chelsea and Bournemouth in the recent head-to-head meetings favours the former with Pochettino’s men coming out on top on most occasions. In this exact game last year, Chelsea was still able to beat Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium in the Premier League.
Bournemouth in their last game against Brentford showed that they do have goals in them. The problem however with the Cherries is their defence. Iraola’s men do not look like a team that could hold onto a lead as they succumb under pressure. Bournemouth could take a page or two from Forest’s book of defending in their last game. Chelsea does struggle to break teams with a low defensive line.
Pochettino’s men are still having problems when it comes to scoring goals. The Blues were impressive against Luton Town but with all due respect to the Hatters, they are one of the favourite teams to get relegated this season. The Blues have to find a way to get into more dangerous positions.
Chelsea having one of their worst seasons last year still managed to beat the Cherries twice in the season. With Bournemouth’s defensive fragilities, we feel Chelsea has a better chance of winning.
Bournemouth vs Chelsea Predictions and Betting Tips
As per the bookmakers, Chelsea goes into this game as high odds-on favourites to beat Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium on Sunday. We expect this game to be quite an entertaining encounter as Chelsea will want to write the wrongs of their last game against Forest. We expect Chelsea to be more attacking and dominate the ball. Bournemouth will also go into this game having got a point from Brentford which is normally quite a tricky ground to get points from.
Chelsea do lack the numbers in front of goal with the likes of Jackson and Sterling failing the last time against Forest. The duo however was quite good against Luton and nearly combined to pull Chelsea level only for Jackson to miss a sitter. The Chelsea striker is a chance magnet but fails to convert his chances. Jackson has converted just 1 of his 7 big chances this week. The reason to still back Jackson to score is his off-the-ball work and his attacking positions. Jackson has made the most of the ball runs into the box in the Premier League. The Chelsea striker gets into the right places and the goals will come.
For Bournemouth, Dominic Solanke is the best player to hedge your bets for to score. Since the start of last season, Solanke has scored 8 goals and registered 8 assists in the Premier League which is the highest amongst any other Bournemouth player. We expect both teams to score in this game however we do not believe this game will be a high-scoring encounter.
Bournemouth Player List
Goalkeepers: Neto, Darren Randolph, Andrei Radu
Defenders: Ryan Fredericks, Milos Kerkez, Lloyd Kelly, Chris Mepham, Adam Smith, James Hill, Marcos Senesi, Illia Zabarnyi, Max Aarons
Midfielders: Lewis Cook, David Brooks, Joe Rothwell, Ryan Christie, Alex Scott, Marcus Tavernier, Hamed Traore, Gavin Kilkenny, Philip Billing
Attackers:Dominic Solanke, Dango Ouattara, Justin Kluivert, Kieffer Moore, Antoine Semenyo, Jaidon Anthony, Emiliano Marcondes
Bournemouth Playing XI
|
Player |
Role |
|
Neto |
Goalkeeper |
|
Max Aarons |
Defender |
|
Illia Zabarnyi |
Defender |
|
Marcos Senesi |
Defender |
|
Milos Kerkez |
Defender |
|
Ryan Christie |
Midfielder |
|
Joe Rothwell |
Midfielder |
|
Philip Billing |
Midfielder |
|
Antoine Semenyo |
Attacker |
|
Jaidon Anthony |
Attacker |
|
Dominic Solanke |
Attacker |
Bournemouth Team Form(Last five games): D, W, L, L, D
Chelsea Player List
Goalkeepers: Robert Sanchez, Marcus Bettinelli, Lucas Bergstrom, Eddie Beah
Defenders: Benoit Badishile, Thiago Silva, Trevoh Chalobah, Ben Chillwell, Reece James, Axel Disasi, Levi Colwill, Marc Cucurella, Wesley Fofana, Malo Gusto, Ian Maatsen, Malang Sarr
Midfielders: Enzo Fernandez, Conor Gallagher, Carney Chukwuemeka, Lesley Ugochukwu, Andrey Santos, Moises Caicedo, Romeo Lavia, Cole Palmer
Attackers:Mykhailo Mudryk, Raheem Sterling, Armando Broja, Noni Madueke, Nicolas Jackson, Christopher Nkunku, Mason Burstow, Callum Hudson Odoi, Romelu Lukaku, Hakim Ziyech
Chelsea Playing XI
|
Player |
Role |
|
Robert Sanchez |
Goalkeeper |
|
Axel Disasi |
Defender |
|
Thiago Silva |
Defender |
|
Levi Colwill |
Defender |
|
Ben Chilwell |
Defender |
|
Malo Gusto |
Defender |
|
Enzo Fernandes |
Midfielder |
|
Moises Caicedo |
Midfielder |
|
Raheem Sterling |
Attacker |
|
Carney Chukwuemeka |
Attacker |
|
Nicolas Jackson |
Attacker |
Chelsea Team Form(Last five-game): L, W, W, L, D
Bournemouth vs Chelsea Hotspur Head-To-Head
Matches Played:13
Bournemouth wins:5
Chelsea wins:13
Matches are drawn:1
Bournemouth vs Chelsea Betting Odds
The odds of Bournemouth winning are set at 4.60. Chelsea are the favourites to win with their odds being set at 1.81. The odds of the match ending in a draw are set at 4.30. The betting odds have been calculated based on team performances in previous matches, player records etc. Odds are subject to change.
Our Prediction
Favorites to win: Chelsea
We predict that Chelsea will go into this game as favourites to win. The Blues have indeed spent a fortune on this team and things do not look that bad. The problem with Chelsea is their ability to finish chances off. Pochettino’s men still are not clinical enough in front of goal. The Blues are quite stable defensively and in midfield but the lack of output upfront is putting more pressure on the backline. Chelsea cannot currently outscore opponents. Pochettino however has a challenge on his hands but playing an opposition like Bournemouth could prove well for his Chelsea side.
The Cherries do present their opposition with a lot of chances. Bournemouth were lucky against Brentford as the Bees struck the post three times in that game. Bournemouth will be expected to do better considering they are playing at home against Chelsea. With Chelsea, we know that they are a better unit defensively and can protect a lead if they have to.
The problem with Bournemouth is their ability to defend deep. For the Cherries to win, they will need to defend as a unit as Chelsea are gettable as an opposition. We however fancy a Chelsea win in this fixture. It definitely would not be an easy ride for Pochettino’s men but we do expect them to get the three points post the 90 minutes. Chelsea to win this game 2-1.
