Our picks

AFC Bournemouth vs Chelsea: 30/01/2019 – match preview and predicted starting XIs

AFC Bournemouth vs Chelsea

Date: 30/01/2019

K/O: 19:45

Venue: Vitality Stadium

Referee: Roger East

Bournemouth play host to Chelsea this Wednesday night after a lengthy spell off competitive games due to having already exited both domestic cups. On the other hand, the visitors come into the fixture having played on Sunday evening in the FA Cup and also last Thursday, where they beat Spurs in the Carabao Cup semi-final.

The Blues do have momentum in their hands though and after defeat to Arsenal last time out in the league, they managed to see of their London rivals Tottenham in a penalty shoot-out to reach the Carabao Cup final at Wembley. Sarri’s side then comfortably beat Championship opposition in Sheffield Wednesday to progress to the fifth round of the FA Cup – where they will face Manchester United.

However, the game may be overshadowed by the speculation around the future of Chelsea Callum Hodson-Odio as he continues to gain serious interest from Bayern Munich. Their hosts have already managed to brush transfer rumours aside in the form of Callum Wilson and Chelsea will be hoping the latter’s namesake chooses the Bridge over the Allianz.

Team News

AFC Bournemouth

Bournemouth have four definite absentees for the visit of Chelsea as Cook, Solanke, Francis and Pugh are all out for differing reasons whilst King and Wilson have only a 75% chance of playing.



The trick for Bournemouth will be stopping Chelsea’s pacey wide players from causing havoc. Clyne and Smith will undoubtedly have their hands full with two of Hazard, Hudson-Odoi, Willian, and Pedro running straight at them.

Chelsea

Chelsea have pretty much a fully fit squad from which they can pick with the addition of Gonzalo Higuain coming in and Morata, whose loan deal to Atletico Madrid is all but sealed.

The Higuain move means Hazard dropping out wide leaving one of Willian, Pedro, or Hudson-Odoi to fill the spot on the right-hand side. If Chelsea are serious about keeping the young Englishman then it would make sense to go with him but if recent weeks are anything to go by then it seems Willian will start. This again is the crux of the issue as the Londoner wants to stay but a move to Germany may see his career excel, similar to that of Jaden Sancho at Dortmund.

Predicted Starting XIs

Bournemouth (4-4-2): Boruc; Clyne, Cook, Ake, Smith; Brooks, Gosling, Lerma, Fraser; Wilson, King

Chelsea (4-3-3): Kepa; Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Luiz, Alonso; Kante, Jorginho, Kovacic; Willian, Higuain, Hazard

Score Prediction: Bournemouth 0 Chelsea 2

I have a sneaky suspicion this will be a bit of a routine win for Chelsea. A goal in the first half followed one by one late on, perhaps by the new Argentinian addition to the team, should be enough or the Blues. They will be buoyed by Manchester United dropping points last night but with Arsenal picking up a routine three points, the pressure is on the Blues to follow suit.

Are you interested in writing about Premier League football for 90MAAT? If so, we’d love to hear from you. Check out this link to find out more. 

 

 

90MAAT News Now

Premier League Table

90MAAT Social Media

ScoopDragon Football News Network

Search The Site