Defending Premier League champions Chelsea are looking to secure their second consecutive league victory when they face Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday. The two teams have already met twice this season and Chelsea won both meetings: 1-0 in the Premier League in October and 2-1 at home in the League Cup in December thanks to a very late goal from Alvaro Morata. In fact, the Blues have won the last five direct meetings, while Bournemouth have recorded their last victory at Chelsea in 2015.
Chelsea have been going through quite a few ups and downs lately, mostly downs some might say. They started the year with four consecutive draws, then barely squeezed past Norwich in the FA Cup before a fine 4-0 victory at Brighton in the Premier League, but a few days later they got knocked out in the semi-finals of the League Cup by Arsenal. Last weekend the Blues defeated Newcastle 3-0 in the FA Cup, but they need to get a winning streak going in the Premier League. Cesc Fabregas, David Luiz, Willian, Alvaro Morata and Thibaut Courtois are all injury doubts ahead of Wednesday's match.
Bournemouth have been in pretty good shape lately, they have not won any of their last five Premier League matches and have beaten both Everton and Arsenal during that spell. However, they got knocked out of the FA Cup by Wigan and are just three points above the relegation zone in the Premier League, so it's much too early to relax. Tyrone Mings and Jermain Defoe are injured and won't be able to play in Wednesday's match, but Harry Arter has a good chance of being fit.
Probable line-ups:
Chelsea: Courtois - Azpilicueta, Christensen, Rudiger - Moses, Bakayoko, Kante, Fabregas, Alonso - Barkley - Hazard
Bournemouth: Begovic - Francis, F. Cook, Ake - Smith, L. Cook, Gosling, Daniels - Ibe, King - Wilson
My prediction: Chelsea to win 1-0.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Chelsea win - 1.28
Draw - 6.50
Bournemouth win - 11.00
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Comments (1)
sharpe
02/24/18, 03:02:50 PM
That was one of the biggest upsets of the whole season so far, an 0-3 loss for Chelsea, but after that it was I believe the Blues got hammered again at home from...
That was one of the biggest upsets of the whole season so far, an 0-3 loss for Chelsea, but after that it was I believe the Blues got hammered again at home from Watford which just shows in what kind of form they were during the time...and maybe even now. Not looking too likely for Conte to save his job after this season the way Abramovic dealt with his managers previously but let's see...
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