Chelsea 2-1 AFC Bournemouth, Premier League: Post-match reaction, ratings

Chelsea started like a house on fire and could’ve been up by two inside of three minutes. But Jackson’s tight angle shot was saved and Palmer’s effort missed by a few inches. Semenyo then reminded us that Bournemouth aren’t just going to stand by idly. Thankfully his snapshot was straight at Petrović.

The game settled down a bit after those hectic opening minutes, with Chelsea controlling proceedings and finding plenty of space to operate. And when Bournemouth’s goalkeeper was forced into a panicked clearance by a pressing Gallagher, after rushing out well to win a 50-50 against Sterling, Caicedo intercepted the ball in the center circle and expertly picked out the top corner of the net with an audacious effort from the halfway line. Can we redo all of the goal of the season awards?

Chelsea had chances to add to the lead, but were not able to find the requisite quality in the final third with our final balls to do so. Instead, Bournemouth started to pose greater danger on the counter, and Petrović was forced into another save just before the half-time whistle to preserve our narrow advantage.

The second half began at a torrid pace, and both sides found the back of the net in short order via deflected efforts: Sterling getting lucky as his cross deflected in off the goalkeeper and then immediately after Badiashile getting unlucky as his block attempt deflected a shot beyond Petrović.

Bournemouth pressed for the equalizer and brought on Solanke at the hour-mark. The former Chelsea prospect has been dealing with a hip issue, but that didn’t stop him from inflicting some pain on us as well … or wouldn’t have, but he blazed over a wide open empty net in the dying minutes to save our victory.

Chelsea had chances to make our lead more secure, but much like in the first half, the requisite quality would elude us when it mattered most. Still, other than that last chance, we kept it mostly secure at the back.

Welcome back to Europe!

Carefree.

• Two changes from midweek, with Sterling in for Mudryk (concussion) and Silva in for his final Chelsea game with Chalobah moving to right back and Gusto, who’s been dealing with various knocks of late, dropping to the bench
• Caicedo’s first ever Chelsea goal; worth the wait!
• Chelsea finish sixth, and will be either in the Europa League or the Europa Conference depending on who wins the FA Cup (City or United, respectively).
• Manchester City win the league
• Next up: holidays, Silly Season, preseason starts in July
• KTBFFH