Bournemouth 1-3 Chelsea: Highlights and recap
By Ty Finch
Chelsea beat Bournemouth 3-1 in the Premier League on Saturday, April 8. Here are all the highlights from the match.
Chelsea saw their Premier League lead cut to four points ahead of their match against Bournemouth on Saturday, as Tottenham thrashed Watford 4-0 in the day’s early kickoff. That’s as much pressure as the Blues have been under since December of 2016.
Antonio Conte’s men responded quickly, however, as Diego Costa ended his mini goal drought to open the scoring in the 17th minute. He turned well in the penalty area before his scuffed shot deflected off Adam Smith and into the net.
If the Blues’ opener was fortunate, however, their second goal was pure skill. N’Golo Kante played Eden Hazard through with a beautiful long pass, before the Belgian rounded Cherries keeper Artur Boruc and rolled in from a tight angle.
Chelsea looked like they might run away with it after that, creating a series of decent chances, with Hazard in particular looking dangerous.
But it was Bournemouth who scored the third goal of the match, thanks to a large slice of luck of their own. Josh King’s speculative shot in the 42nd minute took a sizable deflection off David Luiz before nestling into the top corner.
Bournemouth picked up the tempo in the second half and forced Chelsea into some uncomfortable defensive positions, but they weren’t able to break down the Blues defense. When Marcos Alonso made it three for the visitors with a wonderful free-kick in the 68th minute, the game was all but over.
Next: This week in US Soccer: USWNT get a new CBA
Highlights
Chelsea reestablished their seven-point lead at the top of the table, while Bournemouth are down in 15th, seven points clear of the drop.