Bournemouth vs Chelsea 29/02/20

29 February 2020

The Premier League (PL) relegation fighters, Bournemouth, welcome out-of-sorts Chelsea to the Vitality Stadium, hoping to stretch a two-game winning run in top-flight H2Hs.

The hosts enter this round frantically looking over their shoulders, as they sit just two points above the relegation territory. They’ve suffered another dip in form, going from back-to-back league wins to two consecutive defeats, with all four of those matches producing over 2.5 goals. Far more comfortable on home turf, the Cherries have racked up 61.54% (16) of their total 26 PL points at this venue, although three of their four league home triumphs so far came against the sides from the bottom half of the table. The Vitality Stadium has been a venue of entertainment this season though, as eight of Bournemouth’s 13 PL games here produced over 2.5 goals, including five of the last seven. In turn, three of their four top-flight home clashes against Chelsea have featured three goals or more, although they suffered three defeats across those H2Hs (W1).

Meanwhile, the visitors head to Bournemouth on the back of a dismal 3-0 home loss to Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League, which has left them with just two wins from the last seven competitive fixtures (D2, L3). What’s more, Chelsea’s hopes of finishing fourth or better have been compromised after they’ve failed to pick up a single win in their three previous PL road trips (D2, L1). Also, only one team from the upper half of the table has allowed more goals than the Blues (37) so far, with 59.46% (22) of them coming away from home. Particularly ponderous in the second half of play, Franck Lampard’s men have shipped 14 of the 22 PL away goals after the break (64%), and it’s not strange that they failed to secure three points in three of five PL road trips where they were leading at the break (D3).