Chelsea vs Bournemouth Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

Preview

Haydn Cunningham Dec 03, 2015 @ 07:09 pm

Jose Mourinho made the brave decision to drop Diego Costa to the substitute’s bench after Mourinho is believed to have been growing extremely frustrated with the Spanish forward. He looks in stark contrast to the one that bullied his way past defenders last season and finished as the clubs top goal scorer. Mourinho ventured his anger at Costa for not pushing himself hard enough to get on the end of a chance against Maccabi Tel Aviv midweek and it was first time that an evident rift is in the Chelsea camp. Costa added fuel to the fire yesterday when he appeared to throw his bib in the direction of his manager yesterday as Mourinho didn’t bring him on at all in the goalless draw at White Hart Lane. It is a 3^rd successive clean sheet for Chelsea despite John Terry ruled out through injury but Gary Cahill’s return saw him partner Kurt Zouma and both looked assured in defence.

Eddie Howe would be grateful for a striker with the pedigree of Diego Costa to select from but unfortunately his star striker is injured for the rest of the season with a serious knee injury. After throwing away a 2-0 lead against Swansea City last weekend, Howe was the one dishing out the comebacks as his Bournemouth side showed tremendous character to bounce back from 2-0 and 3-2 down to seal a dramatic point. Everton played Bournemouth off the park in the 1^st half but two goals in the final 10 minutes was just the start. Ross Barkley then scored what looked to be a cruel winner in the 5^th minute of injury time but Junior Stanislas headed in a 98^th minute leveller to send the Vitality Stadium crazy. It still left the Cherries in the drop zone but the performance will give them some much needed confidence.

Chelsea may well want to make the most of Diego Costa’s ability upfront as Bournemouth have conceded at least 2 goals in their last 6 away matches in the Premier League. However, Chelsea will need to possess more of a threat going forward than they did against Tottenham as they registered just 1 shot on target against Tottenham which is their lowest tally in a Premier League game since April. Chelsea’s opponents are now winless in 8 games in the Premier League and are sitting in 18^th. This is the first ever meeting between these 2 sides and all the expectation will be on the home side. Bournemouth have yet to score a goal in the middle 3^rd of the game in the league. 

Chelsea will still be without Thibaut Courtois but the Belgian goalkeeper is expected to return in December. Adam Federici picked up a knock in the first half against Everton and was substituted at half time which could mean a full Premier League debut for Ryan Allsop. Adam Smith came off the sub to score a superb goal and is likely to be rewarded with a start at the reigning champions.

Chelsea

Stats: W-4 L-7 D-3

Recent Form - WLWWD

Bournemouth

Stats: W-2 L-8 D-4

Recent Form - LLLDD

Head-to-head record:

No previous meetings. 

Possible Line-ups

Chelsea (4-2-3-1) – Begovic, Ivanovic, Zouma, Terry, Azpilicueta, Fabregas, Matic, Hazard, Willian, Pedro, Costa

Bournemouth (4-5-1) – Allsop, Francis, Smith, Distin, Daniels, Ritchie, Gosling, Surman, Stanislas, Arter, King

Injury List/Suspended Players

Chelsea – Courtois (inj), Falcao (inj)
Bournemouth – Federici (inj), Mings (inj), Gradel (inj), Elphick (inj), Wilson (inj)

Chelsea v Bournemouth Head to Head

League Positions