Stubborn Bournemouth to Inject Life in Title Race
Champions-elect Chelsea, head to the south coast to take on Bournemouth on Saturday evening in the hope they can move another step closer to winning the Premier League title.
The Blues suffered a shock 2-1 defeat at home to Crystal Palace last weekend and this result gave a glimmer of hope to the chasing pack, especially Tottenham Hotspur. This was a match Chelsea were expected to win comfortably and underlines the theory that any team in the Premier League can beat another on their day.
Following the loss to Crystal Palace, Antonio Conte faced Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City at Stamford Bridge. It was the perfect game for Chelsea to play following the poor result against Crystal Palace and having gone in at half-time winning 2-1, Chelsea did not look like giving up their lead in the second half.
Conte made a switch at half-time, bringing on Nemanja Matic to sit deep in the midfield and close the space David Silva enjoyed in the first 45 minutes. The change worked and showed Conte is not averse to making tactical changes throughout the match.
Trends show Bournemouth endured an eight-game streak without a win at the turn of the year. There was a danger the Cherries were going to be sucked into the relegation fight at the bottom of the table but are now on an unbeaten run of five games and sit 13th in the Premier League table, 7 points clear of 18th place Swansea City.
The 2-2 draw at Liverpool on Wednesday night was a great result for Bournemouth, who showed good organisation throughout the 90 minutes. Liverpool managed to take just 1 point off Eddie Howe’s team this season and Bournemouth have also held Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester United.
This has the makings of a very exciting game, with plenty at stake. Bournemouth do not want to allow themselves to be sucked into a relegation scrap and Chelsea want to secure the title. There should be goals in this game, with trends showing there have been over 2.5 goals in Chelsea’s last five Premier League games.
Furthermore, Bournemouth have conceded 2 or more goals in six of their last seven home Premier League games and scored over 2 goals in four of the last six. Entertainment is almost guaranteed at the Vitality Stadium now and we should be in for plenty of goalmouth action.
Neither team are likely to make any changes from their mid-week starting XI. Ryan Fraser could replace Jordan Ibe for Bournemouth and Victor Moses will come back into the Chelsea team if he recovers from a calf injury.
The match with Crystal Palace showed Chelsea can be beaten and Bournemouth will be in a confident mood having remained undefeated for five games. This match is going to be a real test for Chelsea and could see them drop 2 points in the race to the finish line. We could see a high scoring draw, a result which could inject some more life into the title race.
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