Key events
Full-time! Bournemouth 0-1 Chelsea
The Blues pinch it! Did they deserve that? I’m not sure. But you don’t always get what you deserve. Bournemouth hit the post twice in a game that broke the Premier League record for yellow cards shown. All that matters though is that scoreline. A clean sheet on the road and some handy contributions off the bench. Job done for Chelsea.
90+6 min: Sancho is rightly named as player of the match. It was his assist that turned the game and he sparkled throughout this second half down the left.
90+6 min: Still time for Semenyo to get booked. That’s the 14th for a player and the 15th overall.
90+6 min: Sanchez makes another great save! Unal spins on the ball and suddenly the whole game opens in front of him. he looks up, realises he has time and space to shoot and lets rip. It’s heading towards the bottom corner until Sanchez stops it.
90+5 min: Excellent from Sanchez who came out with authority and claimed the corner. Bournemouth will really only have one more shot at this.
90+3 min: Chelsea supporters have found their voice. But they’re silenced as the ball is given away and Bournemouth, perhaps for the last time, can mount an attack. Chelsea do well with Fofana winning the ball around half-way. But here come Bournemouth again. Mad pace to this now. Billing gets ti the byline, cuts back a wicked cross but Colwill gets his body in the way. That might have been deflected towards goal. Instead it’s a corner.
14 yellow cards – a Premier League record
It’s not been the greatest game, but it is one for the record books! Astonishingly, we’ve not had a single red. Still time.
90 min: Chelsea have the ball inside Bournemouth territory and rather than drive towards goal they’re keeping possession. They know they’ve been second best for most of the night. What a win this would be. Six minutes will be added.
Felix is booked for a late challenge on half-way and I believe this might be a Premier League record. Will confirm as soon as I can.
89 min: Sanchez steams off his line to snuff out the danger from a loose ball hacked forward. Semenyo gets the ball though after Bournemouth win it back and he shoots from inside Chelsea’s box. Colwill blocks and celebrates. Fair enough. That was top defending.
88 min: Veiga is booked for celebrating in the crowd. What a mad game this is! That’s the seventh Chelsea player to see yellow.
GOAL! Bournemouth 0-1 Chelsea (Nkunku, 86)
Has he won it off the bench? Of course it’s not over but that will likely be the winner. Sancho again the difference maker. Firm delivery from the wide left channel, Nkunku spins inside the box and gets lucky with the bounce of the ball off the two defenders marking him. He falls as he shoots and manages to squeeze it in off the far post.
85 min: Sinisterra receives the ball in a wide left position, drives towwards the box, cuts back in field, takes out two defenders as he does so and lets fly with venom. The shot is blocked but that was looking dangerous for a moment. Bournemouth know they have late goals in them. This aint over.
83 min: Tavernier, who had a great game and rattled the woodwork in the first half, makes way for Unal.
81 min: I’m shocked there isn’t another card. Cucurella has crunched Scott from behind as Bournemouth were about to set a quick transition attack inside Chelsea’s territory. That was a cynical foul. The fact that he’s already been booked probably saved him.
80 min: Senesi gets booked. Fair play actually. He crashed into Felix and took him out from behind.
79 min: Jackson makes way for Nkunku. I must admit I forgot that Jackson was on the pitch. He basically became redundant the moment Felix joined the scene.
78 min: Felix brings down a long ball with ice on it inside Bournemouth’s box. What a great touch. But it wasn’t quite perfect as it took him away from goal. He tried to back heel a pass for the onrushing support but couldn’t make it work.
76 min: Neat work from Bournemouth who stitch their first move in what has felt like an age. Billing with some lovely touches near the right but there’s an off-side. Bournemouth have taken the blows. Now it’s their turn to attack. Billing drives past a defender and is upended on his way to the byline. No foul though. Goal kick for Chelsea.
74 min: Sancho is climbing through the gears. Everything that;s working for Chelsea is coming down this left side. Now Bournemouth have two men marking him. Meanwhile the home team make some subs. Kluivert and Smith (who mist be knackered marking Neto and then Sancho) make way for Billing and Araujo.
“Hi Dan, has the ref booked the crowd yet fir being too loud? He clearly wants the yellow card record.”
Not yet, Phillip Haran.
72 min: Felix gets in a tangle and Bournemouth break. That is until Veiga sticks out a long leg and makes a brilliant tackle in midfield. he then sets forth, beats one, beats another and finds himself in Bournemouth’s box. But he can’t work a shot. Chelsea are growing. Palmer and Cucurella are starting to drift towards the Sancho-Felix axis that is getting a lot of joy down the left.
71 min: Sancho and Felix combine again. Felix though can’t wriggle the space when he finds himself on the byline on the left. His cross is deflected but then again off his own leg so it’ll be a Bournemouth goal kick.
70 min: Sancho – who has been Chelsea’s best player since coming on – sparks a move down the left with a nutmeg. Tasty. But once again a lack of cohesion lets the Blues down. Just not enough players on the same page. Bournemouth can hustle back and take the ball away.
68 min: It’s a whippy corner but Travers punches it clear. Subs for Bournemouth. Christie and Evanilson make way for Scott and Sinisterra.
66 min: They’ve been dross with the ball but Chelsea have scrambled well without it at times. Caicedo intercepts Christie’s ball across the face of the box and Chelsea launch a counter. Felix carries it, finds Sancho, gets it back with a show-boaty flick. Chelsea keep it and Sancho slides in Cucurella down the left on the overlap. The cut back from the byline just about finds Jackson who spins, falls over and shoots. The deflection takes it wide and we’ll have a Chelsea corner.
65 min: Palmer, now on the right, is jinking and bopping but going nowhere so he recycles to Caicedo. Chelsea work through the lines. Felix is on the ball. Caicedo gets it in midfield, looks up, sees nothing so figures he’ll hit it from a mile away. It’s blocked and Bournemouth launch it long.
63 min: It’s been chaotic but Bournemouth need to find a goal. Chelsea have the quality to nick a win. They don’t deserve to be level. Kluivert is showing his teammates the ‘calm down’ hand gesture.
61 min: A couple of changes for Chelsea. Madueke and Disasi off. Felix and Tosin are on. Palmer will shift to the right I reckon.
60 min: Kluivert is booked for bringing down Madueke who had him beat on his outside. 10 cards in the game for players, one for a manager.
59 min: Christie hits the upright! He ran onto a loose ball that was bouncing around the edge of the Chelsea box and did so well to kee it down on the deck. It took a deflection off a Chelsea defender and dribbled onto the post and out for a corner. Chelsea are hanging on here.
58 min: Some variety in the free-kick. Tavernier shapes to shoot but instead rolls it across the front of the Chelsea wall and Semenyo runs onto it and hits ir first time with the side of his foot. But it curls high and wide.
