90min

Chelsea vs Bournemouth - Premier League: TV channel, team news, lineups & prediction

By Grey Whitebloom

Chelsea haven't beaten an English team since mid-October
Chelsea haven't beaten an English team since mid-October / Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/GettyImages
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Chelsea host Bournemouth in the Premier League on Tuesday evening after limping into the World Cup-hiatus in woeful form.

Graham Potter's Blues lost their final three pre-tournament games without scoring a goal. The club's most recent Premier League victory came during the brief window when Liz Truss was prime minister.

Bournemouth signed off the first act of the season with a quick-fire pair of victories against Everton after a slump of four successive defeats. Gary O'Neil was appointed permanent head coach during the hiatus - after eight weeks as interim manager - but lost his full debut in the Carabao Cup against Newcastle last Tuesday.

Here's everything you need to know about the meeting between this pair.

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Where are Chelsea vs Bournemouth playing?

  • Location: London, England
  • Stadium: Stamford Bridge
  • Date: Tuesday 27 December
  • Kick-off Time: 17:30 GMT / 12:30 ET / 09:30 PT
  • VAR: David Coote
  • Referee: Simon Hooper

Chelsea vs Bournemouth H2H Results (Last Five Games)

  • Chelsea: 2 Wins
  • Bournemouth: 2 Wins
  • Draws: 1

Current Form (Last Five Games)

  • Chelsea: LWLLL
  • Bournemouth: LLWWL

How to watch Chelsea vs Bournemouth on TV and live stream

United Kingdom

  • Amazon Prime Video (UK)

United States

  • NBC Universo (United States)
  • NBC Sports (United States)
  • USA Network (United States)

Canada

  • futboTV (Canada)

Chelsea team news

The World Cup hiatus was supposed to be an opportunity for Potter to recover his ailing stars. Reece James and Carney Chukwuemeka are in contention to feature against Bournemouth but both Wesley Fofana and Armando Broja sustained knee injuries during winter friendlies.

Doubts linger over Ben Chilwell as he nears a return from a thigh issue - a problem area which is expected to sideline N'Golo Kante until February.

Kepa Arrizabalaga and Ruben Loftus-Cheek are creeping back towards competitive action following foot and calf problems respectively.

Croatia's Mateo Kovacic and Morocco's Hakim Ziyech faced off in the third-place playoff which took place ten days before Tuesday's top-flight fixture, leaving little room for recovery.

Chelsea predicted lineup vs Bournemouth

Chelsea Starting 11 (3-4-3): Arrizabalaga; Chalobah, Silva, Koulibaly; James, Jorginho, Loftus-Cheek, Cucurella; Mount, Aubameyang, Sterling.
Bench: Mendy, Bettinelli, Azpilicueta, Havertz, Pulisic, Zakaria, Gallagher, Hall, Hutchinson.

Bournemouth team news

O'Neil described the days leading up to Bournemouth's Carabao Cup defeat against Newcastle on Tuesday as "a tough week" after losing as many as ten players to a virus. With seven days between the cup tie and trip to Stamford Bridge, it remains to be seen how many players can recover in time.

Jefferson Lerma, Ryan Fredericks and Marcus Tavernier are believed to be part of this sickly cabal.

Neither goalkeeper Neto nor captain Lloyd Kelly were available for the cup tie against the Magpies even though both returned from injury to take part in the club's warm-weather training camp. David Brooks has also gotten back out on the grass during the off-season.

Bournemouth predicted lineup vs Chelsea

Bournemouth Starting 11 (4-4-2): Travers; Smith, Mepham, Senesi, Zemura; Christie, Billing, Cook, Anthony; Solanke, Moore.
Bench: Sadi, Plain, Hill, Greenwood, Stacey, Emiliano, Dembele, Lowe, Adu-Adjei.

Chelsea vs Bournemouth score prediction

Theoretically, Chelsea are heavy favourites as the home team against freshly promoted opposition. However, the Blues are only five points above Bournemouth - the same tally which separates Chelsea and Manchester United in fifth.

Potter has had some brief respite from the mountain of matches which plagued his opening weeks at the helm but 12 of his first-team players were in Qatar. Bournemouth only had two internationals at the World Cup but have been dealt their own dollop of disruption with this virus.

Whoever turns out for Chelsea should have enough to overcome a depleted Bournemouth side but there have been few guarantees with the Blues this season.

Prediction: Chelsea 2-1 Bournemouth

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