Chelsea Returns To Winning Ways With 2-0 Win Over Bournemouth

Chelsea football club returned from the World Cup break with a big bang as the Graham Potter-led Blues beat their visitors 2-0 to return to winning ways.

Recall that before the World Cup break, Chelsea suffered five defeats, and three draws and only managed five wins. They lost their last league game before the break, 1-0 to Newcastle United.

Ahead of their league game against Bournemouth, coach Potter made eight changes to the side that lost their last Premier League outing to Newcastle in mid-November, with only Koulibaly, Jorginho, and Mount retaining their places.

Goalkeeper Kepa, and Reece James, who has been out since October, are both back from injury, while Zakaria was handed his first league start. Havertz led the line as Armando Broja is out after suffering a season-ending ACL injury in a friendly.

From the start of the game, Chelsea looked more determined to grab the lead. They finally got the lead in the 16th minute when Kai Havertz slid in the ball after Raheem Sterling squared it across the box.

After the close-range finish, Chelsea continued to press on for more but Bournemouth stood their ground. Unfortunately, their resistance didn’t last for too long before Chelsea doubled their lead.

This time around, Havertz succeeded in keeping the ball in Bournemouth’s eighteen-yard box after Zakaria was disposed of it. The German versatile player then spotted Mason Mount and squared it to him. The Englishman made no mistake as he doubled Chelsea’s lead.

Afterward, the game became cagy as both sides failed to make any meaningful impact upfront. However, Chelsea almost made it 3-0 in the 44th minute but a VAR review disclosed Christian Pulisic’s strike.

The canceled goal marked the last time the ball hit the net throughout the first and second halves as Chelsea recorded a 2-0 win over Bournemouth.

With the win, Chelsea are currently occupying the 8th spot with 24 points in 15 games, 6 points away from 4th-placed Tottenham with a game in hand. While Bournemouth are left in the 14th spot with 16 points in 16 games.