What an awful mid-week result for Chelsea FC. Leeds United came into yesterday’s match wallowing in the relegation zone. Wednesday’s 3-1 win over the Blues put them squarely in the safety zone. While that was extremely disappointing for Chelsea, at least they can already move on to the next match already, which is a trip to AFC Bournemouth.
Chelsea FC at AFC Bournemouth FYIs
Kick-off: 3 pm (BST), Saturday Dec. 6, Vitality Stadium, Bournemouth, UK
Result Probability: Chelsea win 44% Draw 26% AFC Bournemouth win 30%
PL Form, Standing: Chelsea WWWDL 4th 24 pts AFC Bournemouth 14th 9 pts LLDLL
That’s the good thing about all this festive fixture congestion, if you suffer a bad L, not much time to lament over it.
Chelsea Team News
Not much has changed since before the Leeds defeat. Moises Caicedo, who is obviously really missed, serves the second of his three match ban here.
Levi Colwill, Romeo Lavia and Dario Essugo remain out injured while Mykhailo Mudryk is of course still suspended.
Essugo suffered a set back in his recovery from a thigh injury, with Blues boss Enzo Maresca saying on Tuesday:
“Dario, he was okay, started some sessions with us, but he needs to slow down a little bit and will be out, but we hope nothing important. We hope he will be fine.”
Chelsea Starting XI Prediction
Robert Sanchez; Malo Gusto, Trevoh Chalobah, Wesley Fofana, Marc Cucurella; Enzo Fernandez, Reece James; Pedro Neto, Cole Palmer, Alejandro Garnacho; Joao Pedro
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN.