Rescue act: Reece James’ late free-kick rescued a point for Chelsea against Bournemouth (Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
Chelsea needed some last-gasp captain’s heroics from Reece James to avoid a galling defeat by Bournemouth in a Premier League thriller at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues skipper came off the bench to dispatch a stoppage-time free-kick and rescue a dramatic share of the spoils for his side in a 2-2 tie after they had been stunned by a spirited fightback.
Chelsea dominated the first half of Tuesday night’s contest in west London, leading through Cole Palmer’s stylish early goal and spurning numerous golden chances to add to their lead – with Nicolas Jackson particularly wasteful.
They were made to pay for that frustrating profligacy after the interval, with Justin Kluivert restoring parity for in-form but injury-hit Bournemouth from the penalty spot after Moises Caicedo had fouled Antoine Semenyo.
Semenyo’s powerful effort after the hour mark looked to have the Cherries on course for another famous win, only for James to have the final say.
Despite the late euphoria, Chelsea have now gone five games without a win in the Premier League as their slump continues and they will find themselves out of the top four altogether if Newcastle win at home to Wolves on Wednesday night.
Bournemouth, meanwhile, will still be content with another positive result that extends their club-record unbeaten Premier League run to nine matches despite an injury nightmare that has seen them lose both record signing Evanilson and Enes Unal in recent weeks.
Chelsea were dominant from the outset in a one-sided first half, the influential Enzo Fernandez’s heavy touch inside the box denying a likely early goal before Palmer failed to test Mark Travers with a tame free-kick.
A confident Palmer flicked an impudent chip wide of the back post before giving his side the lead after only 13 minutes, sitting down Travers with a lovely feint before rolling the ball into the back of the net after great battling work and a perfect assist from Nicolas Jackson.
Bournemouth’s injury crisis got worse when right-back James Hill signalled that he had to come off and was replaced by Justin Kluivert, with Jadon Sancho and Noni Madueke both seeing efforts blocked before Chelsea got an injury scare of their own as Palmer went down clutching his ankle after making a challenge on Antoine Semenyo.
He was fine to continue and Fernandez forced a low save from Travers before Jackson fired a bobbling low cross from Madueke over the crossbar from close range.
A dramatic passage of play then saw Ryan Christie narrowly miss a diving header and Kluivert send a low effort against the post, with Chelsea immediately going down the other end and rattling the woodwork themselves through Jackson, who also lashed into the side netting from close range after his header from a deep Palmer cross had been parried low by Travers.
Bournemouth were notably below par but got themselves level within five minutes of the restart, Kluivert emphatically sending Robert Sanchez the wrong way from the penalty spot after Moises Caicedo had clumsily brought down Semenyo inside the box.
That led to the introduction of Reece James from the bench as Romeo Lavia came off and Caicedo moved into midfield.
David Brooks avoided a red card for making contact with the face of Marc Cucurella to halt a Chelsea break after referee Robert Jones had been sent by VAR Graham Scott to consult the pitchside monitor, with Travers then almost letting another Jackson effort squirm under him and Sanchez denying Brooks with his feet.
A stunning and unlikely Bournemouth turnaround was completed just under 20 minutes later when Semenyo ran at Josh Acheampong and thundered past Sanchez after being played in by Christie to leave Stamford Bridge shocked.
More to follow