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A spectacular second-half performance from Bournemouth hammered Chelsea as they were beaten by 4-0 at the Vitality Stadium. Maurizio Sarri and co. had an opportunity to go three points clear at 4th place, but they spurned the chance and succumbed to a second consecutive league defeat for the first time since March 2018.
A blistering brace from Joshua King along with goals from David Brooks and Charlie Daniels to inflict a meaty blow to the Blues. The visitors were in cruise control of the fixture for the entirety of the first half, but not for the first time this season, they failed to insert a final nail in the coffin while attacking.
In the second half, from the kilometers covered to the energy levels, it all dropped and as a result, Chelsea slipped to 5th place. Two weeks back, not many would have expected them to drop points in this fashion, especially when they were six ahead of bitter rivals Arsenal.
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On that note, let's analyze the five major talking points from Bournemouth's historic win against Chelsea.
#1 Chelsea start strong, Bournemouth chase their opponents
Bournemouth got us underway but it was Chelsea doing all the talking in the opening exchanges of the game. They knocked the doors of the Bournemouth back line repeatedly, but as it's been all winter, Eden Hazard and co. couldn't find the back of the net.
As early as in the 6th minute, Mateo Kovacic came close to scoring his first goal in Chelsea colors as he struck the frame of the goal. A peach of a cross fell to the Croatian, who had made an intelligent run into the six-yard box, but his header only hit the post.
This is the 17th time Chelsea were denied by the crossbar, more than any other team. Marcos Alonso, who did not feature, has hit the post a whopping six times, more than any other player in the league.
A couple of minutes later, the Chelsea center backs almost created a goal, only to see their effort cleared. In the 11th minute, Eden Hazard dropped his shoulders, beaten a couple of players and launched a venomous shot, but Boruc was equal to it with a smothering save.
The talisman tested Bournemouth's custodian later again with his left foot, but the shot was too straight for his liking.
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#2 Bournemouth ask questions late in the first half and score early after the break
For the first 25 minutes or so, it looked like the Cherries were just not able to get the ball out of their own half and as you'd guess, they registered no shots on target. It was only in the final moments of the first half when they decided to turn on the heat and create a little bit of two-way traffic.
In the 35th minute, King held the ball up well and served it to Ryan Fraser, who teed up Brooks. However, Emerson reached just in time to steer the danger away. From the resulting corner, the dangerous Steve Cook created a goal-scoring chance for David Brooks, but Kepa was there to make his first save of the night.
Just before the closing minutes of the first 45, Junior Stanislas shot straight at Kepa, after the hosts had broken free.
Heading into the tunnel, Eddie Howe's men were easily the happier side. And they carried that to the next half by scoring just 90 minutes after the referee's whistle. David Brooks took the ball down beautifully with his right foot and whipped one in towards Josh King, who was there to lash home the opener.
#3 Goals, goals and more goals sting Chelsea
Chelsea hadn't got going and rightfully, were punished for not converting their chances. Only in terms of possession, normal services were resumed as the Cherries sent them packing with three goals to follow after the opener.
The likes of Pedro and Kante threatened while going forward, but Bournemouth doubled and tripled their advantage, much to the frustration of Maurizio Sarri. David Luiz, who had been spraying passes and marshaling the defense all evening, displayed his inconsistent side with two ill-timed, reckless challenges.
The Brazilian dived into a challenge, lost out, dived into another challenge, lost out again, as King unselfishly pulled the ball back to Brooks, who scored his 6th league goal of the season.
Bournemouth then put the game to bed with a stunning goal in the 74th minute from King, who left Kepa stranded with a sublime finish. Once again, Chelsea were absent defensively.
Just before the final whistle, Charlie Daniels put the cherry on top of the cake with a fourth goal.
#4 Jorginho woeful on the night
In recent times, summer signing and Chelsea's midfield metronome Jorginho, has drawn major criticism for his lack of agility, concentration, and poor tackling success. He did his reputation no good as the Bournemouth wingers dropped deep and got past him with utmost ease.
Time and time again, he was too soft with his challenges and positionally and defensively, the Italy international was abysmal. He was kept in wraps throughout the game and completely marked by the Bournemouth midfield.
His poor defending and chasing backfired on the defense, which is highly dependent on him. Jorginho foils the back line and is usually supposed to win the balls back high up the pitch. But, his absent-mindedness exposed the back line way too much.
Consequentially, David Luiz and Emerson were forced to make last-ditch challenges, which to their potential, were substandard.
#5 Are the Blues not motivated enough?
For some reason, Chelsea have dropped their levels of intensity and interest this season many a time. It was seen against Newcastle, in the 3-1 defeat at Tottenham and probably, for an entire 90 minutes against Arsenal.
While going forward, they are either reliant on Hazard to produce moments of magic or are way too slow and flat-footed while working the ball in the opposition-half - which is the last thing a team needs when it's drilled by Maurizio Sarri.
In terms of defensive performances as well, the Blues have surrendered their focus during set-pieces and fallen apart to counter-attacks. Are they not motivated enough? Did the open criticism exercised by Sarri not affect them?
Don't they know that if they lose it from now, Chelsea are most likely to lose Eden Hazard as well? Sarri admitted, after the game:
"Maybe it's my fault because maybe I'm not able to motivate this group and these players. I don't know why. But I need to understand and we need to understand very soon because we have to play in three days."
It's time to press reset, muster a few consecutive victories and strengthen the bid to claim a top 4 spot. Huddersfield up next at home, Chelsea need a huge win to restore confidence and swagger heading into the tough round of fixtures in February.
