Chelsea aim to reignite their league campaign after a mini slump as they welcome Bournemouth to Stamford Bridge.
A win will move Chelsea temporarily level with third-placed Manchester City, whilst Bournemouth could temporarily go 12th with victory and end a five match losing run.
Team news
Embed from Getty ImagesFikayo Tomori could return for Chelsea if he passes a late fitness test, having missed their midweek win over Lille with a hip injury.
Oliver Giroud (ankle), Marco van Ginkel (knee) and Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Achilles) are still ruled out for the foreseeable future.
Bournemouth could welcome Lloyd Kelly and Joshua King back from respective thigh and hamstring injuries.
Nathan Ake is out with a hamstring injury suffered during last weekend’s home defeat to Liverpool, whilst Callum Wilson is set to also be sidelined with his own hamstring injury picked up in that match.
Steve Cook (hand) and Junior Stanislas (knee) will be unavailable until early January, whilst David Brooks, Adam Smith (both ankle) and Charlie Daniels (knee) are still ruled out for the foreseeable future.
Form
Chelsea are winless in three of their last four league games, although they have lost just one of their last five home league matches.
Bournemouth are winless in their last five but have scored three away goals across their last three away trips.
Stat Attack
- Chelsea have lost just two of six Premier League meetings with Bournemouth (W4, L2).
- There has never been a draw of any kind in this fixture across all competitions.
- Bournemouth have scored just five goals at Stamford Bridge in eight trips to Chelsea’s 11.
- Bournemouth’s Jefferson Lerma has collected a joint league-high seven yellow cards alongside Crystal Palace’s Luka Milivojevic entering this weekend.
- Jorginho is the only Chelsea player to have scored a league penalty this season.
Prediction
Chelsea seem to have hit a domestic snag lately but their situation isn’t as bad as Bournemouth, who have won just once in their last ten and have a major injury crisis.
I however can’t see Chelsea struggling here against a lethargic lineup of Cherries who will simply be hoping to avoid a deeper injury crisis.
Prediction: Chelsea 3-0 Bournemouth
Result: Chelsea 0-1 Bournemouth