AFC Bournemouth 0-1

Independent:

Chelsea 0 Bournemouth 1

Little shock as Blues lose again after late Glenn Murray header

Michael Calvin Stamford Bridge

So much for fearsome fairytales. Little Red Riding Hood, in the form of a Bournemouth team created in Eddie Howe’s innocent image, met the Big Bad Wolf named Jose Mourinho at Stamford Bridge last evening, and gobbled him up whole.

Chelsea, denied their expected easy meal, were left to ponder the implications of another ruinous defeat in a bewilderingly traumatic season. The greatest condemnation was that Bournemouth’s winning goal, eight minutes from the end of normal time, was hardly a seismic shock.

It was a catalogue of errors, from Thibaut Courtois’ poor punch at a routine corner, to Bransilav Ivanovic’s casual attempt to prevent Steve Cook hooking the ball to the far post. Glenn Murray was under most pressure from his team-mate, Harry Arter, when he headed in from what looked a marginally offside position.

There is still a sense of dislocation at the Bridge, because the travails of the top four are disconcertingly irrelevant. The days when a loss like Manchester City’s, at Stoke, seemed central to Chelsea’s existence have vanished too quickly, so unexpectedly.

Hell will freeze over before Mourinho admits to a reappraisal of managerial style, but the signs of subtle readjustment to reality are beginning to emerge, even as he has to endure a torrent of boos and further taunts of “ you’re getting sacked in the morning”.

Ugly scars from his early-season posturing remain – not least those incurred in the alienation and excoriation of the former club doctor, Eva Carneiro – and even in the best case scenario it takes time for things to return to something approaching normality.

Mourinho had spoken beforehand of green shoots of recovery, signs of collective responsibility with and without the ball, which led to the conclusion “we are playing as a team again”. He spoke too soon.

Bournemouth might have arrived without  a win in their eight previous Premier League matches, but they impressed with their vivacity on the ball and their durability and defensive organisation out of possession.  

These are the sort of prime-time experiences promised by promotion, so it was unsurprising Bournemouth’s 3,000 travelling fans provided the main soundtrack to the match. Their repeated reminders “We’ve got the Special One”, sung in homage to Howe, were readily excused.

Chelsea are still searching for a focal point in the absence of Diego Costa, whose introduction at half-time for the dismally uninvolved Oscar was overdue. In essence they started with four attacking midfield players who lack the intensity and instinct to get behind the defence.

They were alarmingly slack, initially vulnerable on the counter, and grateful for Courtois’ return. He saved brilliantly, twice, from Joshua King in the opening quarter of an hour after Junior Stanislas and then Matt Ritchie ran and passed their way through canyons of space in front of, and beyond, the Chelsea back four.

Ritchie, already linked to Manchester United, has the look of Premier League permanence. Arter, having recovered from hamstring issues, is another with the requisite class and unfulfilled ambition to survive relegation, should it occur. Not for the first time, Bournemouth’s lack of a natural goalscorer was obvious.

Theoretically, Bournemouth were opportune opposition, since their season has been cruelly destabilised by injury. Tyrone Mings will not appear until next season; the fear is that their fate will be sealed by the time Max Gradel and Calum Wilson re-emerge in April.

They miss the leadership of captain Tommy Elphick and the dynamism provided from midfield by Marc Pugh. Christian Atsu, yet to play a game after being signed on a season-long loan from Chelsea, is rumoured to have a calf or a shin injury. He may even be a figment of everyone’s imagination.

Despite such handicaps, their goalkeeper, Artur Boruc, was rarely tested yesterday. His first moment of real alarm came 10 minutes after the interval, when Nemanja Matic, encased in a facemask, was caught unawares by a driven cross to the far post and headed over an unprotected goal.

It took Costa only 17 minutes to pick up his fourth booking of the season for pulling Ritchie back by his shoulders.  This failed to improve his mood, since he had led wild-eyed penalty claims, seconds earlier, when his low cross from the left struck the sliding Simon Francis on the arm. He was fortunate to escape further punishment for kicking the ball away.

He epitomises Chelsea at the moment. A player living on previous glories, who generates more heat than light, his sense of entitlement is as unimpressive as it is unworthy.  The mood music, in advance of Wednesday’s decisive Champions League group match against Porto, is loud and discordant.

Teams

Chelsea: (4-2-3-1) Courtois; Ivanovic, Zouma, Cahill, Baba (Traore, 82); Matic, Fabregas (Rémy, 82); Willian, Oscar (Costa, h-t), Pedro; Hazard.

Bournemouth: (4-4-1-1) Boruc; Smith, Francis, Cook, Daniels; Ritchie, Gosling, Surman, Stanislas; Arter; King (Murray, 79).

Referee: Mike Jones

Man of the match: Ritchie (Bournemouth)

Match rating: 6/10


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Observer:

Bournemouth’s Glenn Murray heads home to pile more misery on Chelsea

Chelsea 0 - 1 AFC Bournemouth

Dominic Fifield at Stamford Bridge

So much for the recovery. This was a defeat to sum up Chelsea’s traumatic title defence, a loss that four months ago might have been considered inconceivable but which, these days, bore all the hallmarks of this season’s regular failings. Bournemouth arrived here after nine winless games, a side shredded by long-term injuries to key players and a team who had not managed a clean sheet away from home since a trip to Hartlepool of the basement division in August. They departed with their manager, Eddie Howe, celebrating the “best individual result in our history”. The way things have been going this season, even Roman Abramovich up in the west stand should have seen this coming.

There were the usual local complaints over the display of the officials. Some of those pointed out by José Mourinho were valid. Glenn Murray may well have been marginally offside at the far post when Steve Cook clipped the ball back into the six-yard box after Thibaut Courtois had pawed away a late corner, the substitute nodding down and through Gary Cahill on the goalline with his first touch. He had been on the pitch for 99 seconds. Perhaps more doubtful was a call for a penalty after Diego Costa’s pull-back struck the sliding Simon Francis’s arm in the other penalty area. In another season, the first might have been ruled out and the second awarded, but this campaign is like no other in recent memory.

Mourinho’s post-match gloom reflected as much, his criticisms of the officials all rather half-hearted given the fact that, when he has lambasted perceived mistakes this term, he has been slapped down with heavy fines, a stadium ban and a threat of another to come. What was arguably more revealing of Chelsea’s dismal predicament – they are 14th and only three points above the relegation zone – was the recognition there is no bite to his lineup. No incision across the front line. Branislav Ivanovic, Willian and Pedro all flung tantalising low centres into the penalty area when the hosts finally built up some momentum after the interval but, even with the brooding Costa introduced at the break, the delivery was only greeted with hesitancy.

“All those crosses from the right side, short crosses, we have to touch the ball in front of goal because the goalkeeper would have no chance,” said the manager, his exasperation all too evident. “If you are in the box you have to attack the ball and touch it in. These are big chances. Big chances you have to take. The only time we made contact was with Matic, where it was difficult for him wearing his mask and with the cross really fast. It was difficult for him to react and give direction to the ball.” That effort flew over the bar.

Mourinho was left to bemoan a lack of consistency in individual performances. Eden Hazard was not quite as effervescent as he had been at White Hart Lane. Oscar was anonymous and withdrawn, while Cesc Fàbregas continues to labour. “Today, again, we had a couple from whom you need more and expect more, and they don’t give enough,” added the Portuguese. “But there were ‘unlucky details’ too. You cannot have bigger details than one penalty that is not given and an offside goal that decides the game.”

Perhaps, but it still felt a wasteful display rather than one where Chelsea had been cheated of a result. Instead, Bournemouth could bask in their own seismic moment. This victory hauled them out of the bottom three and was remarkable given the crippling injuries which have robbed them of Callum Wilson and Tyrone Mings, Tommy Elphick and Max Gradel. Or, indeed, all the niggling setbacks suffered over the week which meant the 18-man match day squad included every outfield senior player available. “We were magnificent, and we had to be to win here so I’m incredibly proud of the players,” said Howe. “The injuries knocked us for six and meant we lost our balance for a while, but we’ve found a way to work that can be effective. And if we can come here and win, we can do it anywhere.”

That might be pushing it given that four teams have now won at Stamford Bridge but, for Bournemouth, it ended an occasion that potentially eclipsed the FA Cup win against Manchester United in 1984, or the win against Grimsby in 2009 that staved off the threat of relegation from the Football League. They would have been forgiven a nervy start but, instead, forced the returning Courtois into first-half saves from Josh King and Junior Stanislas.

They had to be cannier after the interval when Chelsea were far more aggressive, with Mourinho infuriated by their eagerness to break up play, before a substitute reduced to a bit-part role sprang from the bench to claim the contest. The hosts had prayed that would be Costa. Instead it was Murray. “We’ve never been in the Premier League before, so to come to the champions and win,” added Howe. “It’s the best individual result in the club’s history.” For Chelsea, it was the stuff of nightmares.



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Telegraph :

Chelsea 0 Bournemouth 1

Glenn Murray stuns Stamford Bridge as champions lose at home again

Chelsea vs Bournemouth, Premier League - Jose Mourinho's side lose their fourth league game at home as Cherries climb out of the relegation zone

By Sam Wallace, Chief Football Writer, at Stamford Bridge

There was a time when all Roman Abramovich had to worry about was his club losing Premier League games to the likes of Liverpool, West Ham and Stoke City, but now the Chelsea owner is left contemplating the kind of defeat that was once unimaginable at the home of the champions.
Bournemouth might have a Russian owner and a manager whom their supporters call the “Special One”, but the Premier League rookies who comprise largely of British and Irish Football League graduates are not supposed to win at Stamford Bridge.
That they are the fourth visiting team to win there this season, the eighth defeat of Chelsea’s title defence is just the latest chapter in the extraordinary decline of the champions.

This is unprecedented territory for Mourinho who even lacked the energy to berate Mike Jones for what he regarded as the referee’s “mistakes”: that Glenn Murray’s winner on 82 minutes had been allowed to stand and that a penalty had not been awarded earlier for a Steve Cook hand to ball.
The truth is that Mourinho has tried everything he can to explain, deflect, provoke and motivate and none of it is working.

Abramovich was at the game and, for some of it, the Chelsea owner had his head in his hands.
As things stood at the end of the game, Mourinho said he had no reason to believe that the club’s support of him was wavering but the very minor revival, against Norwich and Tottenham, is now over and Chelsea are back in crisis once again.

This was not a disastrous Chelsea performance, especially the second half, but it was a disastrous result for the team now just three points above the relegation zone.
They rallied late in the first half after a strong start for Bournemouth and then they took control after the break but there was no decisive intervention from a forward line that has run out of goals.

Mourinho dropped Diego Costa again but was forced to bring him on at half-time with Oscar so anonymous; the Chelsea bench must have been considering sending out the proverbial search parties to find their Brazilian playmaker.
Costa came on, got himself booked, kicked the ball away in frustration and failed to get on the end of a Branislav Ivanovic cross that might have been his team’s best chance.

Still Mourinho insists that he cannot ask the club to go into the market for him in January but given the lack of goals from Costa and Loïc Rémy, and the never-ending injury problems for Radamel Falcao, it is no longer a question of frugality but one of necessity. Chelsea need a goalscorer or they will be fortunate to qualify for the Europa League, never mind the Champions League.
Eddie Howe proclaimed the victory the greatest in his club’s history, greater even than the FA Cup third round win against holders Manchester United in 1984, or the 2009 win over Grimsby Town that kept the club in the Football League.

His team played some wonderful football in the first half but they have done so before this season and been unfortunate to lose, and so it turned out that this was their day.
Howe’s team started as they have done most times this season with a full press on their opposition that rattled the home side more than once and presented chances for Joshua King and Junior Stanislas.
In those first few minutes Bournemouth were wonderful, hassling Eden Hazard off the ball in his own half and then getting down the right wing with Adam Smith who crossed for Stanislas. His shot was well saved by Thibaut Courtois, who is at last fit again and back in the side again after three months out with injury.

Chelsea were without the injured John Terry again and it showed. King ran from deep with the ball and created a chance for Stanislas. Matt Ritchie and Dan Gosling passed the ball around Cesc Fabregas.

It had started to get a little embarrassing for Chelsea.
They came into the game at the end of the first half and after the break they should have scored from a deflected cross whipped in from the right by Willian. It reached Nemanja Matic before he could adjust properly to head it and he succeeded only in directing it over the bar from close range.
There were chances for Chelsea, when Ivanovic had a near-post shot saved and then Hazard and Costa worked an opening for the right-back. He struck a diagonal ball from the right that Costa missed at the back post – and then Chelsea conceded.
The goal was a series of bad mistakes from a Stanislas corner won on a rare counter-attack. Courtois’ punch was too weak; Ivanovic was too slow getting to the ball at the back post where Cook hooked it back and Murray, on for King, muscled in to head the ball in.

Yes, Murray was offside but the goal stood and Chelsea were in full panic mode. Yet with Rémy and Bertrand Traoré sent on it still looked like Bournemouth were the more likely to score.


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Mail:

Chelsea 0-1 Bournemouth: Jose Mourinho's men are beaten at Stamford Bridge AGAIN after Glenn Murray's late winner... as Blues are left three points above Premier League's relegation zone

By OLIVER HOLT FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY

Chelsea’s season was meandering on towards mediocrity at Stamford Bridge when it was suddenly tossed on to the rapids again. Labouring towards a goalless draw against lowly, injury-ravaged Bournemouth, Chelsea were sunk by a late winner from the visitors’ substitute Glenn Murray. It was his first touch.
Boos rang around the ground again when the final whistle confirmed an eighth Chelsea league defeat in this season that has been startling for its ordinariness. The idea that Jose Mourinho’s job might be under pressure has been banished for a while but this reverse put it back on the agenda.
Chelsea are now 14 points behind Manchester United, who occupy fourth place in the Premier League, and even though none of the top teams are showing much appetite for the title chase, Mourinho came close to accepting it is looking increasingly unlikely that Chelsea will qualify for the Champions League next season.

Perhaps more pertinently, with 15 games gone and only 15 points garnered, Chelsea sit a mere three points clear of the relegation zone. They find themselves in such reduced circumstances that last week’s goalless draw at Spurs was hailed as a mini-revival.
That revival is over now. They have only won one league game since October 17 and there are new questions over Mourinho’s ability to breathe new life into their season. He was curt when he was asked if he was still the man to do it. He said that before the game he had hoped Chelsea still might make the top four. Now, he said, he was no longer setting targets.
Bournemouth deserve much credit, too. They held their own in the first half and defended stoutly when they were outplayed after the break. They never stopped showing ambition and after the match, their manager, Eddie Howe, hailed the win at the home of the champions as the greatest moment in Bournemouth’s history.

If there was one consolation for Mourinho, it was that Diego Costa, relegated once again to the bench, managed to get through the first half without chucking his bib at him. Even that bonus was spoiled by the fact that when Costa came on after the interval, he was as ineffective in front of goal as he has been all season.
Chelsea huffed and puffed throughout the match. They squandered several good chances and Eden Hazard and Willian provided some moments of wonderful quality.
But overall, they looked pedestrian, predictable and drained of the confidence that coursed through them last season.
Quite where they go from here is hard to see. They were at least bolstered by the return of Thibault Courtois in goal and he made several crucial saves. But their domestic season is a mess and as the festive programme approaches, it is close to the point of being unsalvageable.
They had started confidently, with Hazard and Willian swapping flicks and backheels in the first minute and Hazard bringing a parried save out of Boruc. But when Hazard dwelled too long on the ball in his own half soon afterwards, it was Bournemouth who created the game’s first real chance.

Costa came off the bench for the second half as Chelsea looked to the striker to inspire them to beat Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge
The ball found Junior Stanislas at the back post but his fierce goalbound shot was blocked by Gary Cahill before it could test Courtois on his return to the first team after injury.
Bournemouth hit their stride, zipping the ball around, playing with the kind of technical confidence rare in the Premier League. Their control was excellent, their movement superb. Chelsea found it hard to get near them.
A lightning counter-attack ended with Courtois having to save low from Stanislas and then, after quarter of an hour, Courtois came to Chelsea’s rescue again, getting down fast to his left to push away a fierce low shot from Joshua King.
Several inviting Chelsea crosses curled across the face of the Bournemouth area without an attacking player getting anywhere near it and after half an hour, Costa began to warm up on the touchline, a green big over his white club track suit top.
Costa warmed up for 15 minutes, during which time Hazard and Pedro forced good saves out of Boruc and a couple more crosses fizzed across goal. He came back to the dug-out just before half time. He edged behind Mourinho and sat down. He kept his bib on.

He was rewarded for his patience – and his bib-discipline – at the interval when Mourinho brought him on for Oscar. Stamford Bridge received the news of his recall with a huge cheer. They expected Costa to take his frustration out on the Bournemouth defence this time, not his manager.
Chelsea started to look more dangerous. A cross from Willian, hit with curl and pace, swung across the face of the Bournemouth goal and was headed over the bar at the back post by the masked Matic. A few minutes later, Costa’s header from a corner was hacked off the line.
Costa, inevitably, was soon at the centre of everything, wrestling with Bournemouth players, bundling them over, appealing madly, looking on with dismayed devastation whenever a decision was given against him.
He deserved some sympathy just after an hour when Simon Francis slid in to block Costa’s cross inside the area and the ball hit the Bournemouth skipper’s trailing arm. It looked like a penalty. Mike Jones waved play on.
Bournemouth were pinned back in their own half now. Matt Ritchie had whistled a shot over the bar earlier but it was an isolated break out. Willian and Pedro came more and more to the fore and Ivanovic found increasing freedom to cross from the right.

Some beautiful interplay between Hazard and Fabregas freed the right back again 18 minutes from time but with Costa lurking at the back post, Ivanovic overhit his cross. Fabregas put his head in his hands. On the touchline, Mourinho turned away in frustration.
It got worse. Two minutes later, Ivanovic was through again and this time it seemed as though Chelsea would pass the ball into the net. Pedro and Costa were both waiting in the middle but Ivanovic slid his cross just too far ahead of Pedro and his slight touch took it away from Costa at the back post.
Then, eight minutes from the end, Bournemouth hit Chelsea with a sucker punch. Courtois flapped at a corner from the Chelsea left and even though Steve Cook slipped as he turned the ball back across goal, it squirted to Murray, who nodded it firmly into an empty net. After the match, Mourinho claimed Murray was offside and said Chelsea were always unlucky. He will not get much sympathy.
‘We’ve got the Special One,' the Bournemouth fans sang to Howe. That tag was Mourinho’s own for a long time. It doesn’t seem to fit any more.

MATCH FACTS, PLAYER RATINGS, PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE AND MATCH ZONE

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Courtois 7; Ivanovic 5, Zouma 5.5, Cahill 6, Baba 5 (Traore 82); Fabregas 5.5 (Remy 82), Matic 5; Willian 6.5, Oscar 5 (Costa 46, 6), Pedro 6.5; Hazard 6
Subs (not used): Begovic, Mikel, Azpilicueta, Loftus-Cheek
Goal: Murray (82)
Booked: Pedro, Costa
Manager: Mourinho 5

Bournemouth (4-5-1): Boruc 7; Smith 7, Francis 7.5, Cook 7, Daniels 7; Surman 6.5, Ritchie 6.5, Gosling 7, Arter 7.5, Stanislas 8; King 8.5 (Murray 79, 7)
Subs (not used): Rantie, Kermorgant, Allsop, O'Kane, Butcher, Cargill
Booked: Surman
Manager: Howe 9


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Mirror:

Chelsea 0-1 Bournemouth: 5 things we learnt as Glenn Murray piled yet more misery on the champions

BY DARREN LEWIS

The former Palace striker condemned the Blues to their eighth defeat of the season and their first defeat to a newly promoted side since 2001

Super-sub Glenn Murray headed the winner as Bournemouth pulled off one of the biggest wins in Premier League history and plunged Chelsea back into crisis .

The former Crystal Palace striker headed in from close range on 83 minutes after chaos in the Champions box from a corner. It gave Eddie Howe's promoted side their first win since September and put Jose Mourinho's position as Blues boss back under scrutiny.

Cherries’ keeper Artur Boruc had earlier upstaged returning Chelsea counterpart Thibaut Courtois with a string of impressive saves to earn the Cherries a shock point.

Howe's men were expected to be crushed here with the ailing champions continuing their resurgence.

But Boruc saved superbly from Eden Hazard twice and from both Pedro and Oscar to keep his side in it.

When Chelsea should have had a penalty on the hour - as defender Simon Francis handled from Diego Costa’s cross - referee Mike Jones incorrectly waved play on.

Bournemouth had been winless in eight games before this monster upset. To become the first promoted side in 14 years to beat Chelsea at home will do wonders for their confidence. For Mourinho, however, the future is once again uncertain.

Here's what Mirror Football's Darren Lewis learned at Stamford Bridge...

Bournemouth still need a striker

They could do a lot worse than to try for Loic Remy on loan.

Why not? He’d play every week and go back to Chelsea if Bournemouth go down. They play football the right way. They were trending by half time with a lot of love from TV viewers impressed with the way that they took the game to Chelsea.

It was just a shame that Josh King wanted too long to take the chances that the Cherries had done so well to carve out.

They’ll be relegated if they don’t get someone in. They’ll be even more of a joy to watch if they do.

Chelsea’s brief revival has been very much a false dawn

Yes, they turned up the heat by half time but the pattern of the game would have been very different had Bournemouth scored with the chances they had had during the first half.

At times you couldn’t believe your eyes as Harry After, Dan Gosling, Junior Stanislas and Josh King cut the Blues apart during that first period with moves to fashion shooting opportunities.

Yes, the first 45 minutes ended with the stats showing Chelsea had had 10 attempts to Bournemouth’s nine with four on target for the home side and three for the visitors.

But the manner of the way in which Bournemouth took the game to the ailing Champions - then finished them off - will have worried the home fans and Jose Mourinho.

Courtois doesn’t have to do much to win his place back

Asmir Begovic, meanwhile, knows his place - on the bench.

To be fair, Courtois made himself big to prevent Bournemouth scoring on several occasions.

But the fact that Courtois has not had to wait for his chance after recovering from injury is telling. And, from today’s game, justified.

There is nothing wrong with Bournemouth’s confidence

A huddle at the start and a collective will to compete throughout.

Bournemouth can be proud of their afternoon’s work. They went toe to toe with Chelsea.

They were not intimidated and even without a top striker they still put Jose Mourinho’s team to the sword.

Harry Arter and Andrew Surman harried the Chelsea players. Adam Smith caused problems with his crossing into the box. Junior Stanislas

Diego Costa continues to offer Chelsea nothing

He came on as a second half sub.

He got himself booked.

He argued with the ref and he missed the chance to score from Ivanovic's ball into the box.

What does Remy have to do to get in?


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Express:

Chelsea 0 - Bournemouth 1: Murray goal stuns champions on hellish day for Mourinho

GLENN MURRAY put Bournemouth in wonderland and made it another hellish day for Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho.

By TONY STENSON AT STAMFORD BRIDGE

Murray arrived as an 80th-minute substitute and within two minutes headed his side into the lead.

There was time for them to add to the total as Chelsea threw caution to the wind, brought on extra firepower and went for it.

But this was Bournemouth’s day and they were not going to be denied.

The cheers from fans and the bench at the end made you realise this was a special day in the club’s history.

They had taken Chelsea on at their own game in the first half and then defended as if their lives depended on it as Mourinho swallowed his pride and brought on naughty-boy striker Diego Costa.

Costa returned to offer his usual muscle and mayhem but it didn’t change Chelsea’s season, or luck.

The Brazilian-born Spanish international was given a finger- wagging by referee Mike Jones, had a header cleared off the line and a decent penalty appeal denied.

But in the end Chelsea’s recent revival turned into a false dawn.

They were magnificent at times, but posed little danger until Costa arrived for the second half.

Chelsea had dominated the game but sadly lacked a man in the middle. Mourinho had dropped Costa for his lack of goals but he had to change tack when others failed to seize the initiative.

The swarthy striker came on for the second half after Chelsea’s gamble of playing Eden Hazard as lone striker failed again. Hazard, who had been returning to his best, looked totally alien in his role.

Costa’s arrival in place of the ineffectual Oscar meant Hazard could operate wherever the mood took him.

You wondered why it took so long for a top strategist to work it out. Chelsea were far more comfortable and superior in the second half and Costa had a header cleared off the line within minutes of arriving.

He also supplied a cross that struck Simon Francis’ arm and looked a blatant penalty but referee Michael Jones, who had spoken to Costa earlier about a push on the same player, waved it away.

Bournemouth, who had offered so much in the first half, were left hanging on but Chelsea again failed to make the breakthrough.

You felt there could be magic in the air and Murray supplied it.

A Bournemouth corner was partially cleared only for Steve Cook to hook it back and for Murray to dive in and head home.

It meant Chelsea’s run of three clean sheets was over and now much soul-searching begins.

So what is going wrong? They were a side that hit paydirt last season by winning the title, yet are finding it so hard this time around.

So many chances came and went when once they dropped into the net at regular intervals.

Mourinho must dip into the transfer market in January if he wants to salvage something from this season.

MAN OF THE MATCH: STEVE COOK: The Bournemouth defender was huge in their defence and rarely put a foot wrong.


CHELSEA: Courtois; Ivanovic, Zouma, Cahill, Baba (Traore 83); Matic, Fabregas (Remy 83); Willian, Oscar (Costa 45), Pedro; Hazard.

BOURNEMOUTH: Boruc; Daniels, Cook, Francis, Smith; Stanislas, Arter, Surman; Gosling; Ritchie; King (Murray 80).

Ref: M Jones


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