Wednesday 27 / November / 2024
London : Chelsea's mixed-bag start to the Premier League continued as they played a 0-0 draw against Bournemouth on Sunday night and failed to score for the second successive PL match in a row.
Mauricio Pochettino-managed Blues side featured six players who made their first-ever top-flight appearance. But it made no difference as they could not bounce back from the 1-0 loss to Nottingham Forest at home previously.
In the first half, Nicolas Jackson hit the post, but Chelsea had Robert Sanchez to thank for a wonderful stop on Bournemouth's Dango Ouattara.
The visitors came even closer in the second half, but Raheem Sterling's free-kick hit the crossbar and Levi Colwill's follow-up was ruled out for offside, leaving them in the bottom half with just five points from five games.
Chelsea had an encouraging start, with Raheem dragging an effort across goal before Jackson struck the left post with a low drive from just outside the box in the 13th minute.
Sanchez made a brilliant sprawling save to deny Bournemouth's Ouattara a goal from close range just after Ryan Christie had pulled the ball across. Chelsea skipper Conor Gallagher was then denied a goal inside the box, with Neto making a sharp save.
Conor Gallagher, captaining Chelsea, was then denied from inside the box by a sharp save from goalkeeper Neto.
Chelsea almost scored in the second half when Raheem's free-kick struck the bar. It did not cross the line and Levi Colwill turned in a rebound that was flagged for offside.
The Bournemouth pushed for a win, but Philip Billing's free-kick was deflected narrowly wide and Dominic Solanke was also denied a goal by Sanchez.
Chelsea substitute Cole Palmer nearly scored the winner for the Blues. But his close-range effort was pushed by Neto and kept trouble at bay.
Chelsea is in the 14th spot with a win, two losses and two draws, giving them a total of five points. Bournemouth is at 15th, drawing three and losing two in five matches. They have three points to their name.
Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino told Sky Sports after the match: "After too many circumstances I think that we need to put on the game. I cannot say that I am happy. It was a very competitive game. I think we deserved more, we deserved to win, and we created good chances."
"In the first half after 30 minutes, we created many chances to score. But after all of the circumstances with 12 injuries and then only three players that started today that were with us working in the last two weeks. I think I only need to say it was a really good effort from the team even if we are disappointed because we did not win.
"We need to be tough in the way we are trying (to score goals). It is about improving our efficacy in front of the goal. We need to be calm also, but in these types of circumstances it is not easy for the players to be calm in front of the goal but we cannot blame no one," he concluded.
Mauricio said that he is not going to ask fans for their patience towards the team and their side cannot make excuses anymore.
"I am not going to ask the fans for patience. They need to behave how they want to behave. We cannot make excuses because I think it was a club decision to do what we need to do, but that is the process that we need to be strong in our belief."
"Of course, we are disappointed because the fans are disappointed because of the situation. I am not worried about that because we know what we are doing and I think when we start to recover players, be more competitive, and to have players that can make an impact from the bench, with more squad numbers, I think it's going to be a team that's going to win many games," he concluded.
Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola said, "We wanted the first win. Between 75 and 90 minutes we were pushing and the momentum was for us, but they are also a very dangerous team."
"We had a lot of crosses close to the six-yard box but we could not do it. We were pushing until the end even with a point, the team wanted more and it was taking the options to counter, and I like this. It is a point, it is not a lot but facing a team like Chelsea is much better than losing," he concluded.
Bournemouth's next Premier League match is away to Brighton on Sunday. Chelsea's next outing is at home on Sunday against Aston Villa and then they will host Brighton in Carabao Cup on September 27
