AFCB have to play with no fear at Stamford Bridge

Taking on Chelsea is not a fixture that Eddie Howe would be pleased to see come up in AFCB's current poor run, but Bournemouth have to meet it as a challenge and try and see if they can come away with a result. Of course, the starting 11 for Bournemouth is going to be difficult to pick, but all the squad players want to play Premier League football and we could find that some that were on the fringes can rise to the challenge.

No backing out, AFCB have to start playing their best football now.

The most important thing we can hope for as fans is that Eddie Howe has restored some real belief in the players. The team will have Simon Francis and Jefferson Lerma for sure and these experienced heads will be needed to get other players fully concentrating on their jobs.

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The poor results of recent weeks have not seen a reaction yet. It's been one defeat after another. Bournemouth need to change things and as Howe suggests, forget about feeling sorry for themselves and start punching above their weight again. It will need a performance of very high quality to beat Chelsea or even to get a point, but Chelsea will also change some players from their midweek game, and they'll be under some pressure having lost to Everton and dropped some ground on the top three.

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The problem is Bournemouth may not have many of their big hitters. It underlines how a couple of player sales could seriously weaken the Cherries in January. Callum Wilson and Nathan Aké are the two biggest stars I'd suggest, but Josh King, Harry Wilson and Ryan Fraser need to show what they are about now. In recent games Bournemouth have been reactive. Danjuma and Lerma have been the players to do the most in my opinion to get Bournemouth trying to play on the front foot, but it needs more than a couple of players in the side to turnaround performances.

Possible AFCB line up

AFCB Subs: Boruc, Simpson, Gosling, Surman, Kilkenny, Ibe, Danjuma

A defeat could land AFCB in the bottom three. A surprise win or even a draw would have a massive impact on AFCB's outlook going into further matches in December. The away support is more than 2300, so the players will know we are right behind them and trying to give our best to get them a result. UTCIAD!

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