At the Vitality Stadium on Sunday, Bournemouth held Chelsea to a 0-0 draw, the Blues’ second consecutive Premier League encounter in which they were held without a goal. Chelsea’s much-touted assault once again struggled to deliver.
Following a 1-0 loss to Nottingham Forest in their previous league match, Chelsea dominated possession in the opening period. Nicolas Jackson hit the foot of the post in the 14th minute & Conor Gallagher squandered a wonderful opportunity shortly after the half-hour mark.
Dango Outtara connected with a low ball across the box for Bournemouth’s finest first-half opportunity, but Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez dove to stop his close-range shot.
Early in the second half, the visitors had the ball in the back of the net after Raheem Sterling’s free kick angled against the post and crossbar and Levi Colwill smashed home the rebound, but the goal was disallowed for offside.
Justin Kluivert’s second-half substitution gave Bournemouth a much-needed forward edge, and in the 76th minute, he was fouled on the edge of the box. Philip Billing’s ensuing free kick, though, was diverted wide for a corner.
Dominic Solanke of Bournemouth quickly responded with a powerful shot, and he then missed the target with a looping header as the home team experienced a rare period of offensive pressure.
Five minutes from the conclusion of regulation, Sterling found Cole Palmer for Chelsea, but Cherries goalkeeper Neto produced an incredible one-handed reflex save to stop the substitute’s skillful volley.
With the tie, Bournemouth goes up to 15th place with three points, two points & one place ahead of Chelsea, whose manager Mauricio Pochettino was unable to conceal his displeasure.
“In the end, the numbers show that it wasn’t enough. The focus is always on the game. We should easily win today by a score of 1-0 or 2-0 because we had opportunities in the opening 30 minutes, he told Sky Sports.
He continued, “Maybe you need to tell the fans that it wasn’t enough if we didn’t score & didn’t win the game.
The Bournemouth players thought it was unfortunate that they lost.
We’re sad that we didn’t get all three points after the game. They had a few opportunities, but I believe we produced our greatest performance thus far this season,” defender Max Aarons stated.