Chelsea 2 Bournemouth 2 – Fans show frustration, costly Caicedo booking
Chelsea ended 2025 on a sour note, drawing at home to out-of-sorts Bournemouth to finish the year on a run of one win in seven league games
Chelsea have ended 2025 on a sour note, drawing at home to out-of-sorts Bournemouth to finish the year on a run of one win in seven league matches.
Bournemouth are on their own bad run, now 10 without a win, so Chelsea would have expected to return to winning ways.
But, having come from behind thanks to a Cole Palmer penalty and an emphatic Enzo Fernandez finish, they were pegged back by Justin Kluivert, having failed to defend a long throw.
Enes Unal could have even won it for Bournemouth in added time, striking a presentable chance over the bar from seven or eight yards.
The Athletic’s Simon Johnson and Tom Burrows assess the action…
What did the fans make of it?
A bad December ended on a low note for Enzo Maresca as the home crowd made their mounting frustration towards him known.
Just two weeks after the away contingent sang his name following the Carabao Cup victory at Cardiff City, a loud rendition of “you don’t know what you’re doing” rang out around Stamford Bridge, as well as a lot of boos just past the hour mark.
The cause of their reaction was the sight of Cole Palmer being substituted for the second home game in a row with Chelsea needing a win. On Saturday, Chelsea were drawing 1-1 against Aston Villa when the England international was taken off for Estevao with 18 minutes to go. It did not work as the visitors went on to claim a 2-1 victory.
Tonight, Joao Pedro replaced Palmer with 27 minutes remaining and the scores level at 2-2. It did not pay off either, as Chelsea dropped another two points.
The reaction from the stands at the time was not good, although Palmer clearly respected the decision as he crossed palms with Maresca before heading to his seat.
In fairness, Palmer’s minutes are being deliberately managed due to the groin problem that ruled him out for nearly three months.
But with Chelsea extending their poor run to one win in their last seven league games, the club’s supporters are clearly not interested in the rationale behind it.
More dissent followed at the final whistle as the pressure continues to mount on the Italian to turn results around.
Simon Johnson
Did Chelsea have enough control?
In a crazy first half, Chelsea showed moments of quality going forward, especially when they got the ball to Palmer and Estevao, but they looked alarmingly open and vulnerable defensively.
Their disjointed performance demonstrated why the absent Marc Cucurella is such an important player, as Malo Gusto struggled at left-back, while Josh Acheampong also had a tough match at right-back and was replaced at half-time for skipper Reece James.
