Players must be allowed to make personal decisions over playing

The fact that six Premier league players and staff proved positive for COVID-19 symptoms last weekend has already put doubts in some players' minds if they want to go back to training. Jamie Redknapp has said on SkySports that more players will quit training like Tory Deeney and N'Golo  Kante. The integrity of any competition is therefore shattered, and it's hard to see the end of the Premier League season being anything more than a fudge solution.

Players decisions should be respected.

The players who decide not to train and play will surely find that they are not paid which will probably lead to more disputes. But if you can't do your job you don't get paid, there are millions of people that have lost their jobs in recent weeks and months over the coronavirus, so Premier League players will get little sympathy there.

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I do worry about AFCB as it already has a small squad. Many of the players have young families, including Eddie Howe. We see them every time they have their walk around at the end of the season. The players and staff have hard decisions to make over whether they really feel safe enough to go and train and even more critically go and play games in June.

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At the moment it all seems too soon and a high risk. Things may look better in a months time or we could get the start of a second wave of coronavirus. It all feels like an experiment at the moment, but whether there is really a good safety net in place is hard to see. Players are going to have to go with their gut instinct and I only hope that fans will respect the decisions of individual players who will surely have worries about pulling out. Players need more big stars to come out and say if they are unsure about training. It would take pressure off of others who may feel vulnerable, if they come out and say they don't feel comfortable about playing. The mental health staff at clubs really have their work cut out in the next few weeks.

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In other news, Jordan Ibe has done himself no favours again having his hair cut and ignoring social distancing rules, and he's off for sure on 1 July, says SkySports.

Previous post on Cherry Chimes - Comebacks are part of what have made AFCB great

Can AFCB learn from Leicester suffering title defence?

I'm not convinced that Leicester City could have really made a great defence of their title this season no matter who was their manager. While many fans point towards the loss of N'Golo Kante to Chelsea as a huge factor in the club's season, I see a second half of the season when the Foxes were back on the front foot and picking up points again from some top sides. They didn't lose their quality forever, but re-found their hunger when they needed to. Their heavy defeat against Spurs though last night won't make life any easier for AFCB.

Leicester found it hard going at Dean Court
earlier this season going down 1-0 to the Cherries. 

Leicester City - a one season wonder? That's not necessarily so. While they will surely have to change a few players over the summer, if they can keep some big names like Vardy, Schmiechel, Drinkwater and Mahrez the spine of their team will remain strong. They know what is needed to win a title and to play in the Champions League. That experience is something that only the other top four clubs in the country have and it's something that many teams will never achieve.

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So are Leicester City a side that AFCB can learn from? Even though Howe's way of playing is quite different there are things that can be picked up on that I think have not left Leicester when they play well. The game that reminded me of the Leicester of last season was their win at home to Liverpool 3-1 in February, when they had been just a point above the relegation zone before the win. They played with aggression and intensity that blew Liverpool away and it was a performance that was in total contrast to their defeat against Swansea earlier in February. They dug deep when it mattered. It was too late for Ranieri who was sacked, but Leicester defended together and simply took their chances. 

AFCB have had the togetherness factor for a long time and it is very important not to dilute that when new players are added to the squad. I only hope Eddie Howe is considering that when he thinks about this summer's singings. Would John Terry rock the boat? I tend to think he might and may be AFCB were lucky this last season that Jack Wilshere found it easy to muck in with the team, but you need that 'brothers together' mentality to succeed and  who knows if Leicester City or another club aspiring to grow like AFCB can challenge the traditional order.

Leicester City Home Form
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AFCB Away Form
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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.

AFCB know Chelsea have match winners even without Costa

Chelsea are not top of the table for nothing. They don't rely just on one player to do the business. Yes, Diego Costa has scored most of the goals having netted 13, but he has a pretty strong supply route and even without him Michy Batshuayi will be keen to get a rare start.

Chelsea can even play badly and win games 1-0 this season.

More of a worry than Batshuayi though is Eden Hazard. He looks a totally different player again from last season and he is ripping teams up. That will be a problem that Charlie Daniels will have to try and solve and I imagine there may be a good amount of doubling up on Hazard. Of course hat creates spaces elsewhere, and this is going to be a hard game for the likes of Arter and Wilshere who will have to do more covering than usual one would suspect. 

The pace of Pedro has already been a prospect that teams have not dealt well with this season. He has a real appetite to make defenders have to turn and catch him and he picks intelligent positions up, while not being the most powerful of forwards. What he can do is finish.

N'Golo Kanté could be a bigger loss for Chelsea than Costa in this game. While Chelsea have goal scorers they don't have many with such a good engine as Kanté. Cesc Fabregas is probably who Conte will turn to and  he has had a few minutes under his belt to be ready for this game now.

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It's funny how David Luiz is always seen as the villain and yet this season he has been more of a hero at Stamford Bridge and seems well at home. He can also hit some special free-kicks and the Cherries will have to be mindful of making too many wild challenges around their own box. 

Chelsea's in-form player though has to be César Azpilicueta who has been stunning crowds with his range of passing and accuracy.

The home form of Chelsea is pretty impressive too!

Chelsea Home Form
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AFC Away Form
DLWLL

In other news, Rico Seitz has been appointed as an AFCB director while John O’Neill has stepped down from the Board at AFCB

Is it a good time to play Leicester city?

Some may feel that it is a good time to play Reniera's team having seen them lose to Liverpool over Christmas and just drop a shade from their very high standards. Personally, I don't believe there is a good time to play the Foxes when they are at home and even if they have not been winning of late, it just makes them more determined to play well.

Claudio Reniera is perhaps getting fed up of being asked what the target is after they get to 40 points as it is becoming a bit of a hurdle at present to reach that landmark. Of course, I hope Leicester City still fall short of that magic number after Saturday's game against the Cherries but the joint table toppers are an awkward side to play. The big stat that stands out for me though is that the Foxes have only been beaten once at home this season against Arsenal and that was in September.

Leicester City at Dean Court last August.

Winning away at Everton was a big result for the Foxes and against Liverpool at Anfield they were a shade unlucky with limiting the Reds to basically one chance which Benteke took. It is not just Vardy and Mahrez that are catching the eye now. In midfield the intelligence of N'Golo Kante is becoming more evident and in Danny Drinkwater they have a player who will run through walls for Reniera. There are also calls for Marc Albrighton to get another chance for England, while Kasper Schmiechel has been great for them in goal.

The Cherries did well to get a point from Leicester when they came down to the Vitality earlier in the season, but holding out against them away from home would be one of the best results of the season. Leicester play with high intensity and it is perhaps the game Eddie Howe would least like to play after facing two other top six sides, but you can't choose the fixture order and AFCB will just have to match the Foxes' energy levels and work rate. Of course, a win against Leicester would be a tremendous boost for AFCB and it is that mentality that they need going into these January games.

It may not be a great time to play Leicester City, but it may not be as bad as after the January window when they have strengthened yet again.

Leicester City Home Form
WWDWD

AFCB Away Form
LDWWL

You can now read my return interview about to day's match with Leicester Till I Die. Also see Rival Lines for my questions to the Leicester blog.