Bournemouth put a insipid Chelsea side to the sword with a wondrous performance that saw the Cherries run out 3-0 winners at Stamford Bridge in what turned out to be a memorable evening for Eddie Howe’s men.
The Cherries had been on an excellent run of late, but even the most ardent of their supporters could not have predicted such a scoreline when they travelled to London on Wednesday night, yet it happened and the visitors fully deserved their win too.
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With Alvaro Morata still injured and Michy Batshuayi on his way to Borussia Dortmund, Antonio Conte’s men trotted without a recognised striker in their starting XI, with new signing Olivier Giroud watching from the dugout.
Eden Hazard played at the tip of the Blues’ formation as ‘false-nine’, but the Belgian was far from his mercurial best as the hosts failed to truly test Asmir Begovic in the Bournemouth goal.
A pair of headers from Marcos Alonso and Gary Cahill, that went wide of the goal, were the closest Conte’s men came to scoring, with Bournemouth content to hit their fancied opponents on the counter.
At half-time, the tie was deadlocked but the second-half saw the Cherries blow the Blues out of the water.
Callum Wilson was played through by Jordon Ibe and the in-form striker cooly beat the oncoming Thibaut Courtois to give the visitors the lead in the 51st minute.
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Wilson was proving to be a handful for the Chelsea defence and turned provider for the second goal, scored by Junior Stanislas. The duo interchanged passes from the half-way line before Wilson slipped in Stanislas and the winger would toe-poke the ball through Courtois’ legs in the 64th minute.
Chelsea were shellshocked as they struggled to come to terms with the deficit but their night was to get worse for ex-Blues man Nathan Ake would turn Stanislas’s deflected shot into the back of the net three minutes later.
The Blues had a genuine shout for handball turned down late in the tie, but Bournemouth rode their luck to preserve their clean-sheet and the Cherries moved up to 10th in the league table with their victory in West London.
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Eddie Howe’s men next play Stoke City at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday.
For Conte’s side, the situation is far more grim as they now find themselves behind Liverpool in the league table (level on 50 points, but behind due to an inferior goal difference) and will look to bounce back when they visit Watford on Monday.