Chelsea suffered one of their worst defeats in recent history, as a second-half salvo from Bournemouth handed the Cherries a 4-0 victory over Maurizio Sarri’s shoddy outfit.
The first half was controlled and as is always the case Chelsea had a huge majority of possession without making the opposition, even with the addition of veteran striker Gonzalo Higuain who started his first Premier League game on the night. Were it not for Artur Boruc’s heroics in goal Sarri may well have been more pleased with his sides efforts at the break, but five eye-catching saves ensured the sides went in level.
Sarriball was seemingly thrown out of the window at the break as Chelsea entered self destruct mode, conceding to Josh King just two minutes after the restart, as the Norwegian forward hammered home David Brooks’ cut-back. Welshman Brooks would then go from creator to goal scorer to double Bournemouth’s lead just past the hour mark, capitalising on a horrendous lack of communication in the Chelsea backline to slot past Kepa Arrizabalaga. King added another close-range finish before Charlie Daniels ensured a rout was on the cards with an injury-time header.
Having seen everyone around them pick up points Chelsea have yet more work to do if they’re to hang on to their coveted fourth place position.
Kepa Arrizabalaga - 5
Just stood had to stand and watch whilst his defence collapsed in front of him, a couple of simple stops in the first-half and nothing much he could do about any of the four goals.
Cesar Azpilicueta - 5
As was the case with most Chelsea players he was strong going forward and back in the first-half, putting in one superb ball as well as testing Boruc.
The second-half however he was run ragged by Ryan Fraser.
Antonio Rudiger - 4
Looked completely off the pace in the second-half, with both him and Luiz calamitous in their attempts to hold a high line. Gave Brooks all the time and space in the world to turn in the box and cut the ball back for King to score the opening goal.
David Luiz - 3
Went over to the travelling fans to apologise for how bad his personal performance alone was on the night. He was never tight enough to his man letting King run off him all the time. For the second goal the less said about it the better, a sloppy pass a half hearted challenge and then once he’d got back in position he was floored by Brooks’s chop before seeing the ball fired past him.
Emerson - 4
Couldn’t have made a worse impression having been handed the chance to prove himself by Sarri, a man who typically opts not to change his first 11 very often. The third goal came as a result of him being caught high up the pitch, leaving acres of space in behind. There were shades of the qualities that led to Marcos Alonso being dropped for the Brazilian.
Mateo Kovacic - 5
Had a header tipped on to the crossbar in the first-half and saw a lot of the ball, moving it quickly and making things happen. The second-half passed him by and his impact diminished just as quickly as his passing.
Jorginho - 4
Offered no attempts to protect an ailing back line, standing by as Bournemouth’s midfield coasted past him. He tried to get Higuain moving but found the same issues he’d encountered with Alvaro Morata, a poor knowledge of the offside rules.
N'Golo Kante- 5
His pushing on although encouraged left huge spaces in the midfield that Sarri must surely know Jorginho cannot cover by himself. Possessed a lot of wasted energy chasing down balls only for a sloppy pass or misjudgment by a teammate to disrupt his good play.
Pedro - 5
Some absolutely woeful passing at both ends of the field, his crosses very rarely hit their target and he showed poor decision making when taking on a shot in a position where he really should’ve crossed.
Gonzalo Higuain - 4
My worst fears have been allied, Higuain offers possibly even less than Morata did, his movement is painfully slow and he can’t run the line. He was anonymous in the second-half.
Eden Hazard - 4
Drifted all over the pitch to try and link up with the likes of Pedro and Higuain but couldn’t create anything substantial. In the second-half he looked to already have one eye on Madrid, as Chelsea’s most influential player was left on the periphery of the game.
Subs:
Willian – 4, tried as hard as he could to emulate the sterling effort of Pedro by putting in to particularly awful corners.
Olivier Giroud – 4, offered absolutely nothing
Ruben Loftus-Cheek – 5, there was a bit more forward mobility following his introduction, but one flash shot amounted to a poor performance.