Chelsea 2 – 2 Bournemouth happymamay

Reece James’ injury-time free-kick salvaged a point for Chelsea after a scintillating 2-2 draw with Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge.

Andoni Iraola’s side were heading for a famous win after second-half goals from Justin Kluivert and Antoine Semenyo canceled out Cole Palmer’s early lead.

Bournemouth was heading towards fifth place, equal on points with Chelsea, but James provided a magical moment in the fifth minute of stoppage time to raise the roof at Stamford Bridge and save a point for coach Enzo Maresca’s team, which has now played five matches without a win. In the league.

The visitors were the team going into the match, unbeaten in a club-record eight Premier League matches. However, Chelsea, without a win in four league matches, started with full confidence and took the lead with Palmer’s goal from the kick-off.

After mentioning it in 10 of the first 14 posts in Sky Sports“One precise comment after another, Palmer finally got his goal and it came after great attacking play from Nicholas Jackson. The striker caught the ball before turning his man and playing Palmer on goal. Facing Mark Travers, Palmer sold him a dummy, putting the Bournemouth keeper on the deck, before shooting The ball went into the net to score his 14th league goal in 21 matches.

Bournemouth almost scored a kick in the first half, but they rose up strongly in the second half, leaving Chelsea, who wasted many opportunities, in a state of reeling.

It was an eye-opener as Bournemouth came out with renewed vigor and they were rewarded immediately when Moises Caicedo cut down Antoine Semenyu in the penalty area. Referee Robert Jones awarded a penalty kick and Kluivert made no mistake to equalize for the visitors.

Then came the controversial moment of the game.

All the good work done by Bournemouth could have been undone when David Brooks taunted Mark Cucurella off the ball. Cucurella did the same thing to Brooks in the early stages of the match, and the Bournemouth striker recalled the incident. The referee was sent across the screen by VAR but fortunately for Brooks, a yellow card was issued.

It was the first time in the Premier League that a referee had refused to review a red card on screen, and the first refusal of any kind this season.

Bournemouth went on to take full advantage as Anthony Simeño’s thundering shot sailed past goalkeeper Robert Sanchez to send them on their way to what they thought would be a huge win, but substitute James had other ideas.

The story of the match in statistics

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