Alonso snatches draw from Bournemouth in final few minutes

Match Report

AFCB 2 v 2 Chelsea

29 February 2020

Attendance: 10,667

Here we go fourth verses 16th in the table.

Every pint is vital in a relegation battle and Bournemouth were close to gaining three points until Marcos Alonso netted his second goal in the 85th minute to deny Bournemouth their third home win in a row. Alonso had opened the scoring in the 33rd minute to give Chelsea a 0-2 half-time lead. Bournemouth had started both halved well though and with a dramatic three minutes scored twice in the 54th and 57th minute of the second half as Jefferson Lerma and Josh King found the net. A shock result was on but then Marcos Alonso pounced when Ramsdale had made a great save to deny Mount an equaliser. The draw was the least that Bournemouth deserved but other results saw them drop into the bottom three on goal difference.

The group hug - it's a massive game for Bournemouth.

Bournemouth made four changes with Steve Cook, Lewis Cook, Philip Billing and Ryan Fraser coming in for Simon Francis, Dan Gosling, Harry Wilson and Andrew Surman.

There are more images on Match Day Gallery.

Match Description
The first attack comes from Bournemouth. Fraser goes down the right plays Stacey through and his cross is hit towards goal by Billing, but Caballero saves.

Billing again goes close but hits the side netting. He robbed Tomori from the throw in and should have done better with the finish.

Chelsea come back with, Alonso winning a corner off of Stacey. A volley from Mount is pushed out for a second corner but Aké clears.

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Billing plays a great ball down the left for King and Callum Wilson shoots but right at Caballero.

Lerma puts in a crunching tackle on Mount on 12 minutes. Jorginho gets booked for a foul on Billing.

Stacey wins a corner. Pedro comes out with the ball. Billing is playing well and makes a good interception, but Callum Wilson can't keep the ball in play.

Stacey wins a corner. There was a penalty shout by Bournemouth players but the referee has given a free kick to Chelsea.

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Aké stops a Pedro pass when Chelsea were looking good for a chance. Steve Cook heads out. Adam Smith concedes a corner. Billing clears.

Aké gives Chelsea a corner. King clears. Kovacic takes down Wilson but there's no free kick. The home crowd aren't happy about that.

Mount has a snap shot but no power and Ramsdale saves down to his left.

Chelsea make a cross from the right from James and Gidroud gets his foot to it, Ramsdale puts it on the bar only for Alonso to score at the far post with a volley on 33 minutes.

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Another Chelsea corner. Lerma clears, but Chelsea have another corner. Steve Cook just gets the ball away in time.

Chelsea corner. James shoots fro range but Ramsdale does well to keep it out to his left.

Mount almost gets in from a ball over the top.

Bournemouth are behind but they started well.

Second half
Chelsea on the break with Mount and Alonso takes it up and crosses, Giroud puts the chance wide from six yards. A bug let off for Bournemouth.

Bournemouth have a free kick, but Fraser goes down. Billing plays on Stacey and he's blocked.

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Stacey clears when King had lost the ball. James shoots over.

Bournemouth corner. Another follows. Lerma rises and heads in on 1-1 on 53 minutes. Jefferson Lerma's name rings out around Dean Court. A belting header!

Fraser into Billing, Billing makes a great turn, Stacey gets down the right and Callum Wilson can't get there, but King scores at the far post 2-1. A long VAR wait, but the goal is given. Bournemouth have turned it around. The crowd has played its part lifting the team.

Adam Smith is booked. The noise is defending. This is why we come to football. Every Bournemouth tackle is being cheered.

Aké heads down and Wilson shot right on front of goal is saved by Caballero.

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Tomori and Jorginho are off for Chelsea. William and Barkley are on after 64 minutes. The rain is driving down.

James crosses and Giroud heads wide. Junior Stanislas replaces Josh King on 67 minutes.

Barkley shoots but hits his own player. Christensen is booked for a foul on Wilson. Giroud is replaced by Batshuayi on 72 minutes.

Chelsea see the offside flag go up. Barkley shoots and its deflected for a corner.

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Lewis Cook blocks for a corner. Ake clears. Another Chelsea corner. It's spooned wide by Azpilicueta. Corner again. Wilson comes away with it.

Dan Gosling replaces Lewis Cook on 80 minutes. Bournemouth are being driven back.

Lerma clears for a Chelsea corner. A shot from Mount deflects and Ramsdale saves for a corner.

Another shot goes wide from Azpilicueta.

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Pedro shoots and Ramsdale puts it onto the post but Alonso is there to head in and make it 2-2 on 85 minutes. Bournemouth were desperately unlucky. They haven't held out.

We have five minutes left. Callum Wilson is booked. Ramsdale is out quickly ahead of Batshuayi.

Five minutes of added time. Pedro is blocked.

It's ended 2-2.

Summary

Bournemouth didn't choke but they fell back on their heels after getting ahead in this game with a period of intense and exhilarating attacking play. Chelsea gathered themselves and came back and the point might just be seen better for Bournemouth in a few weeks time than it seems now with other teams leaping past them.

Bournemouth players put everything into that game.

AFCB line up

AFCB Subs: Boruc, Francis, Rico, Gosling, Stanislas, H Wilson, Solanke

Chelsea
13 Caballero, 28 Azpilicueta, 4 Christensen, 29 Tomori (Willian 64), 24 James,
5 Jorginho (Barkley 64), 17 Kovacic, 3 Alonso, 19 Mount, 11 Pedrom
18 Giroud (Batshuayi 72)

Chelsea Subs
1 Arrizabalaga, 2 Rüdiger, 8 Barkley, 10 Willian, 12 Loftus-Cheek, 23 Batshuayi, 47 Gilmour

Eddie Howe thanks the crowd.

Referee: Andre Marriner 3/10 - came under some stick for not giving free kicks. The foul on Callum Wilson by Kovacic really deserved a yellow.

Cherry Chimes MoM: Jefferson Lerma

AFCB Ratings: Ramsdale 7, Stacey 7, S Cook 6, Aké 6, Fraser 6,  Billing 6, Lerma 8,
L Cook 6, King 6, C Wilson 6

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Adaptable Fraser is different class

I'll nick a phase of Lee Bradbury because Ryan Fraser is "different class". The Wee-man had was up against Alonso on Wednesday who has been one of the standout attacking wing backs of the season and Fraser battled magnificently against him all evening to be my man of the match.

Ryan has become first name on the team sheet
of late and he can play just as well in different positions.

Fraser has been playing extremely well on the left wing and to swap over and to play at right wing back was a big change. His defensive duties went up dramatically and while he was bound to lose some headers, it didn't give him a major problem. He also read some of the crosses into the box well when defending and considering that Adam Smith should have been a big miss, Eddie Howe must be beaming about how well Ryan Fraser stepped in.

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I kind of wondered why Fraser was being trained to be a wing back last summer and to learn the position, but when he has played there he has never let the team down. He must also pick things up fast, because he has looked a natural and seems to sense danger very quickly which is a great asset for a defender of course. The more I see Fraser, the more I think he can become the complete player and a real jewel not just for Bournemouth but also for Scotland.

The problem Fraser might have is that he is so adaptable that he might find he doesn't know what is his best position. It is a nice problem for Howe to have, but if there are a few players that are as adaptable as Fraser, Bournemouth will be a much stronger team.


ASKFans' match Preview AFCB v Stoke City

T-Shirt Competition
If you did not win the Cherry Chimes' T-shirt last game here is another chance. Just guess the minute of the first goal between AFC Bournemouth v Stoke City. If two or more fans get the correct minute we will draw the winner from a hat. Tweet your answer to @Cherry Chimes before 9am on Saturday morning. Good luck!  

AFCB lose their unbeaten run against title chasing Chelsea

Match Report

8 April 2017

AFCB 1 v 3 Chelsea
Attendance: 11,283

Bournemouth and Chelsea meet at Dean Court.

Chelsea kept their title charge on track with a relatively comfortable victory at Dean Court where they raced into a 0-2 lead in the first 20 minutes. First, a spooned shot by Diego Costa in the box that was going wide, diverted off Adam Smith and span in to the Cherries' net, and that was followed by a move from Kante, that saw Eden Hazard round Artur Boruc to score. A bit of balance was restored by Josh King just before half time, when he sped up the right side and whipped a sharp shot on the angle past Courtois and into the top corner. Bournemouth had their chances to get more from the game, although the charmed Chelsea goal denied them on more than one occasion. What marks the top sides out though is their ability to strike when they are looking to kill the game off, and Chelsea won the game with a superbly struck free kick from Marcos Alonso on 68 minutes. 

Former AFCB manager, Harry Redknapp was applauded to the CT Sport pundit's box.

AFCB brought Ryan Fraser back into the starting 11, but Dan Gosling was not fit enough to make the squad.

Jordan Ibe Jack Wilshere and Ryan Fraser before kick off.

Fabregas was one of Chelsea's subs.

More pictures will be on Match Day Gallery.

Bournemouth almost got off to the dream start as a strong run by Josh King and driven cross resulted in David Luiz slicing his clearance towards Chelsea's goal only for Courtois to react quickly and push it over for the first corner of the game. Wilshere then set Ryan Fraser on a run against Luiz only for him to hit his shot well wide.

Chelsea looked to break up Bournemouth's fast-led attacks with N'Golo Kante issuing the 'policy of thou shalt not pass', in what every way he could get away with. AFCB soon had a second corner and were intercepting and switching play well, but Chelsea were the ones that were soon pressing forward. 

Moses was first to see a yellow card but he made a good cross moments later that Francis headed away only for Maroc Alonso's shot to be blocked by Adam Smith, before the follow up was driven over. Hazard was next to shoot wide as the Chelsea machine started to build momentum.

Harry Arter was making his presence felt with a foul on Hazard that see him take out the Chelsea star player near the half way line. 

AFCB's attacks came at lightning pace with Fraser leading the charge and Josh King scuffing his shot wide, just failing to get his foot round the ball fully.

As luck would have it, Chelsea would go ahead a minute later with Moses passing to Costa who spooned his shot that looked to be going wide off the edge of his boot, but it deflected off of Adam Smith's head and squirmed into the net to give Chelsea the lead on 17 minutes. Matters became even worse for AFCB just a few minutes later when Hazard sprung the offside trap from Kante's pass, and sped to the left, rounded Boruc and tucked the ball neatly into the middle of the goal to make it 0-2. Steve Cook had played Hazard on side, when it looked at the time that the goal should have been ruled out to me and the other AFCB fans around me.

Bournemouth weren't playing poorly, but they were being punished cruelly. They worked they way back up to Chelsea's box where King and Ryan Fraser worked the ball on the right before Fraser smashed as shot that Courtois pushed away, but Pugh could not get his body in a shape to hit the high volley with a defender blocking his path.

Pressure was kept on by Wilshere winning a free kick on the edge of the box. Fraser ht the free kick into the wall, but when the ball was worked up the left with Daniels firing in a cross, Benik Afobe lunged for a volley and smashed his shot onto the left post and off Courtois, before it was cleared.

Arter received a yellow card or a foul on Costa. But a bit of fortune saw Adam Smith get the better of Alonso with the help of his hand and Afobe spotted the run of King who hit his shot against Luiz and if flew passed Courtois into the top corner on 42 minutes. 

Second Half

Some one forgot to put the floodlights on for a few minutes of the second half, but they went on eventually.  But would we see Bournemouth flick the switch to help Spurs? Well Ryan Fraser came close with an early drive that was a whisker the wrong side of Courtois' right post.

Chelsea were still counter-attacking well with Alonso bringing a save out of Boruc who used his feet to make the save.

The referee finally caught up with Kante's misdemeanours and gave him a yellow for a foul on King. The game was effectively killed when Steve Cook brought down Costa just outside the Bournemouth box. Alonso decided to take the free kick and struck it sweetly, right into the top right corner - Boruc's feet were stuck in concrete - it was 1-3. To be honest, I don't think if AFCB had two keeper's in the goal they would have stopped the shot from going in.

Ibe replaced Pugh on 71 minutes as AFCB looked for a response.

Chelsea's game management was then fairly good. Perez picked up a yellow for catching Arter around the head, as Chelsea took the odd foul to halt AFCB's progress. Afobe was subbed on 77 minutes to bring Mousset on and he was straight into the action and almost put King in before Matic spotted the danger.

Boruc then made a good save from Pedro with 10 minutes to go. AFCB were not going to finding it easy to get back into the game with Chelsea continuing to pose a goal threat.

Gradel came on for Pugh with seven minutes to go. Fabregas also replaced Hazard a couple of minutes later and Pedro went off for Willian, just to get a couple of minutes, and Victor Moses left the field in added time with Zouma finishing the match in the Chelsea defence.

AFCB slip down the table to 15th.

Summary

The gap between AFCB and teams like Chelsea are not as big as they were last season. There is improvement, but AFCB defended deeper than Howe would have wanted in the first half and brought pressure on themselves. On the counter Chelsea are good and their second goal proved that. They have the players to cut open defences with one pass from deep and Hazard is a top finisher. Add the unstoppable Alonso free kick and it would have seemed to many quite a simple win, but had Afobe's volley had gone a few inches the other side of striking the post and had Adam Smith not have made the opening own goal, it might have been a much tighter match - on such small defining lines are matches won and lost.

Simon Francis and N'Golo Kante shake the official's hands.

AFCB
Boruc, Smith, Francis, Cook, Daniels, Fraser (Gradel 84), Arter, Wilshere, Pugh (Ibe 71),
Afobe (Mousset 77), King

AFCB SubsAllsop, B Smith, Cargill, Gradel, L Cook, Ibe, Mousset

AFCB Ratings
Boruc 6, A Smith 6, Francis 6, Cook 5, Daniels 6, Fraser 8, Arter 7, Wilshere 7, Pugh 6,
Afobe 6, King 9

Chelsea
Courtois, Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Cahill, Moses (Zouma 90+2), Kanté, Matic
Alonso, Pedro (Willian 87), Hazard (Fàbregas 83), Diego Costa

Chelsea Subs
Begovic, Fàbregas, Zouma, Willian, Batshuayi, Terry, Chalobah

Referee Watch Andre Mariner - 6/10: I would have like to see a harder line taken with some of the repetitive fouling a bit earlier in the game. I wasn't sure about the second Chelsea goal but on replay You could see it was well constructed goal, so the officials did well there.