The meeting of AFC Bournemouth and Chelsea in Matchweek 5 is one of two sides in transition under new head coaches.
TV Info - Broadcasters
Both have lost two of their opening four Premier League fixtures of the 2023/24 season. Bournemouth, under Andoni Iraola, have been beaten by Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur, alongside draws with West Ham United and Brentford.
Chelsea meanwhile, have just one top-flight win since Mauricio Pochettino took charge, a 3-0 success at home to promoted Luton Town, while they drew on the opening weekend with Liverpool. They have suffered defeats to West Ham and Nottingham Forest.
In this fixture last season, Chelsea left Vitality Stadium victorious, thanks to a 3-1 win in May.
Team news
New signing Luis Sinnistera could make his debut, but Tyler Adams, Alex Scott, Ryan Fredericks and Emiliano Marcondes are all injured
Chelsea will be without a number of players including Benoit Badashile, Armando Broja, Marcus Bettinelli, Trevoh Chalobah, Wesley Fofana, Carney Chukwuemeka, Christopher Nkunku, Reece James and Romeo Lavia.
Last five meetings
6 May 2023: AFC Bournemouth 1-3 Chelsea
27 Dec 2022: Chelsea 2-0 AFC Bournemouth
29 Feb 2020: AFC Bournemouth 2-2 Chelsea
14 Dec 2019: Chelsea 0-1 AFC Bournemouth
30 Jan 2019: AFC Bournemouth 4-0 Chelsea
Key facts
AFC Bournemouth have only won more Premier League matches against Leicester City (5) and Everton (5) than they have against Chelsea (4), though three of their four victories against the Blues have been at Stamford Bridge.
Dominic Solanke, who was four times an unused substitute for Chelsea in the Premier League without ever appearing between 2014 and 2016, has been directly involved in 16 league goals since the start of last season (8 goals, 8 assists), six more than any other AFC Bournemouth player.
Chelsea did the Premier League double over AFC Bournemouth last season (2-0 home, 3-1 away), having won just one of their previous five against the Cherries (D1 L3).
Chelsea head coach Mauricio Pochettino is currently winless in 13 away matches in the Premier League, drawing three and losing 10, in a run that stretches back to February 2019 with Spurs. His teams are without a clean sheet in 14 away fixtures in the competition.
What the managers said
Andoni Iraola: "He is starting to be a threat with his attacking spaces and movement between defensive players. He came very close to scoring against West Ham. It's difficult to improve a player like Dom [Solanke]. We can use him in many ways, but we will try to make him even more efficient."
Mauricio Pochettino: “The team performance was good in the first months. I think we didn’t get the points that we deserved. The organisation is good in the way that we want to play but we haven’t had too much time to work together, that is the reality, because he have players that arrived in the last moment.” More Details
