Rhys James’ late free-kick rescued a point for Chelsea after they were held to a 2-2 draw by Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge.
Andoni Iraola’s side were cruising to a famous victory after second-half goals from Justin Kluivert and Antoine Semenho canceled out Cole Palmer’s early opener.
Bournemouth were fifth, level on points with Chelsea, but James produced a moment of magic in the fifth minute of stoppage time to lift the roof at Stamford Bridge and rescue a point for Enzo Maresca’s side, who are now on a five-match winless run in the league.
The visitors went into the game unbeaten in a club-record eight Premier League games, but Chelsea, who were without a win in four league games, made a confident start and took the lead with Palmer pulling the strings.
After being mentioned in 10 of the first 14 posts Sky SportsMinute by minute, Palmer finally got his goal, and it came after some brilliant attacking play from Nicholas Jackson. The forward held the ball before turning his man and playing Palmer in on goal, Palmer faked it for Bournemouth. on the deck before rolling the ball into the net for his 14th 21 goal in the game.
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Bournemouth’s David Brooks avoided being sent off following a VAR review in the second half of his clash with Chelsea’s Mark Cucurella, the first time in the Premier League that a red card has been rejected by a monitor approx.
Bournemouth barely managed a shot in the first half, but in the second they roared and reeled from Chelsea, who missed a number of chances.
It took a breather as Bournemouth came out with renewed vigor and they were immediately rewarded when Moises Caicedo fell on Antoine Semenho in the box. Referee Robert Jones pointed to the spot and Kluivert made no mistake to equalize for the visitors.
Bournemouth’s Justin Kluivert celebrates with his teammates after scoring the equalizer (AP Photo/Ian Walton)
Then came the controversial moment of the game.
All Bournemouth’s good work could have been undone when David Brooks cynically dispossessed Mark Cucurella in the opening stages of the game and the Bournemouth forward recalled the incident. The referee was sent over the screen but Brooks was lucky that he showed a yellow card.
It was the first time in the Premier League that a referee has denied a red card check on a monitor, and it was the first rejection of any type of monitor this season.
Bournemouth continued to take full advantage as Antony Semenho’s shot deflected past goalkeeper Robert Sanchez to send them to what they thought would be a huge win, but substitute James had other ideas.
Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenho celebrates after scoring to make it 2-1
Maresca. We deserved more
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca to: TNT Sports:
“I think we deserved a lot more, especially in the first half. The negative is that we changed our game after conceding.
“Definitely the most important thing is to create chances. It’s happened a lot in the last four or five games. We don’t score and then we concede a penalty tonight and we need to improve on it.
“The game was completely under our control and that’s something we need to improve on.
“I always worry, even when we win matches. It’s the Premier League, when you don’t create chances and score goals, you have to worry more.”
Devastated Chelsea are concerned about Maresca
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Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca and Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola had differing opinions on the incident between David Brooks and Mark Cucurella in the 2-2 Premier League draw.
Analysis from Sky Sports’ Oliver Yu at Stamford Bridge.
Straight out of the blocks, it was the Cole Palmer show, Chelsea’s show against Bournemouth.
Palmer was at his magical best, his dribbling and finishing gave the Blues a deserved lead.They absolutely dominated with 13 shots, five of them on target.However, the crucial stat was that they only managed one goal at half-time.
Nicholas Jackson’s goal-scoring streak continues. He was lively against the Cherries, but three of his seven attempts were saved by Mark Travers.
He wasn’t the only one to blame as the wastefulness proved costly as Bournemouth roared into the game, and Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca admitted his side’s second-half withdrawal was a concern.
Chelsea were eventually booked for James’ free-kick, but Enzo Maresca’s side are now five games without a win in the league.
It’s not an important result in terms of their hopes of Champions League qualification, but they will need to be ruthless in front of goal if they want to stay in the top four.
Iraola. We are very few in numbers “The club is working on it”
Bournemouth head coach Andoni forever couldn’t hide his dismay after the game as his injury list grew when defender James Hill went out with a hamstring injury in the first half.
“I don’t think we deserved to win today and Chelsea were better than us in the first half. We were better in the second half. It was fairer.
“I’m angry because of their equalizer. We played an extra 15 minutes. I don’t think we deserved to win today play very safe.
“We’re very stretched. We’re going to lose James Hill. We’re in a period where we’re short on points. I think the club is.” working on it. I’m a failure personally and athletically.”
