toptop
Christopher
Nkunku stepped off the bench and combined with debutant Jadon Sancho to deliver
a 1-0 victory for Chelsea at Bournemouth.
The home side had an Evanilson penalty saved and Marcus Tavernier and Ryan
Christie both hit the woodwork, but with just four minutes of normal time
remaining, Chelsea's substitutes linked up to grab maximum points for the
visitors.
Standout Sancho, a Deadline Day loan signing from Manchester United, stepped in
off the left flank before playing Nkunku into the box, where the forward spun
and finished into the bottom corner for his first league goal of the season.
The late winner capped a night of drama on the south coast, with the match also
seeing a record 14 yellow cards dished out. It was far from an aggressive battle
of a game but both sides may feel the other should have been down to 10, with
Lewis Cook and Marc Cucurella going close to picking up a second booking in the
second half.
Chelsea - who had goalkeeper Robert Sanchez to thank for his spot-kick save in
the first half after Wesley Fofana's poor backpass had led to the Spaniard
tumbling Evanilson - have now won both of their away games this season and are
up to seventh in the early Premier League table.
Bournemouth sit 11th, with their unbeaten start to the campaign over. After
grabbing a thrilling late win at Everton before the international break, Andoni
Iraola's side will be left wondering what could have been if Tavernier's rocket,
Christie's drive or that penalty for Evanilson had found the net.
Player ratings
Bournemouth: Travers (6), Smith (6), Zabarnyi (6), Senesi (7),
Kerkez (7), Christie (6), Cook (6), Semenyo (7), Kluivert (7), Tavernier (7),
Evanilson (6)
Subs used: Scott (6), Sinisterra (6), Araujo (6), Billing (6),
Unal (6)
Chelsea: Sanchez (7), Cucurella (6), Fofana (5), Colwill (7),
Disasi (6), Caicedo (6), Veiga (7), Palmer (7), Madueke (7), Jackson (7), Neto
(6)
Subs used: Sancho (7), Tosin (6), Felix (6), Nkunku (7)
Player of the match: Jadon Sancho (Chelsea)
Redknapp: Chelsea move could be
transformational for Sancho
Sky Sports' Jamie Redknapp:
"Confidence is key in football. When you're feeling confident, you're a much
better player.
"When this transfer happened, I thought it was one of the strangest transfers
I've seen in years. Predominantly Chelsea are overloaded with wide players -
Madueke, Nkunku, Neto, players who can play in the wide area. So you're
thinking: how is he going to get a game in this Chelsea team?
"Chelsea feel it was financially a good one to get in the club. He's come in and
obviously trained well as he took Pedro Neto off at half-time, unless there was
an injury, and he came in and looked sharp. There was good chemistry with
Cucurella, which sometimes comes naturally in training. And he looks like he's
enjoying his football.
"Let's be totally honest: at Manchester United he was really poor. He went to
Borussia Dortmund and he looked good in the Champions League. He did good
things, he's got his confidence back, his shoulders back and he's enjoying his
football again.
"This might be a transformational move for him, this might get his career back
on track. He's too talented a player.
"Time doesn't wait for anybody in football, before you know it your career is
over. You get to 25, 26 and you think: 'What am I doing now? I haven't set the
standards I should be.'
"Are you training right? Are you living right? These are questions that have
been made against Jadon. What you can't question is his skill and his ability.
So I really hope it works out for him."
Maresca: You have to get your t-shirt dirty!
Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca:
"You have to win games in this way. We played two different games. The first
half, we struggled. We didn't win duels, we didn't win second balls. The second
half we were much better.
"You cannot come here in this stadium and think to win the game without getting
your t-shirt dirty. You need to win duels, you need to fight. If we are able to
do this for 95 minutes, you have more chances to win games."
Iraola: Chelsea keeper Sanchez was best player
on the pitch
Bournemouth head coach Andoni Iraola:
"We played really well. We had many more chances than them. Their 'keeper,
especially, made the difference. He was the best player on the pitch.
"I will not talk about the referee. I've been talking and it's not working. I
will try the opposite: not talk and see if something happens."