That’s all from me, thanks for reading and for your emails and tweets. Bye!
Just when we thought we were immune to all shocks, the Premier League stumps up another to have us scratching our heads. Relegation-zoned no-wins-in-eight Bournemouth beat the champions on their own patch to clamber out of the bottom three, Glenn Murray’s opportunist header late in the game proving the winner. Chelsea remain 14th in the table on 15 points from 15 games. They were largely dominant, particularly in the second half, but failed to create many clear chances and not for the first time this season we are left wondering: what now for José Mourinho?
Updated
Full-time: Chelsea 0-1 Bournemouth
Mike Jones blows his whistle and Bournemouth have closed out their third Premier League win. Against Chelsea. At Stamford Bridge.
Updated
90+3 mins: Chelsea pump the ball forwards but Bournemouth are holding firm.
Mike Hollitscher emails: “I love these relegation 6 pointers.”
90+2 mins: Cahill tries a Cryuff-turn on the edge of his own box. Oh, Gary! Courtois makes the save to help out his defender before Hazard then concedes a free-kick. Bournemouth still have the ball.
Updated
89 mins: Bournemouth have Chelsea rattled and rumble possession from Matic in the centre circle. They break down the right where Smith delivers a useful low cross and Stanislas isn’t far away from it at the far post.
A home loss to Bournemouth would surely be the worst loss of Jose's career. #chlesea @LawrenceOstlere
— Scott Mitchell (@s_mitchell) December 5, 2015
87 mins: A moment later Ritchie might have finished Chelsea off breaking free on the counterattack, but his fierce low shot arrows just wide. It’s desperate times at the Bridge as Chelsea pour forward in search of an equaliser.
85 mins: The corner from the left was flapped away by Courtois but only to the back post, which attracted the Chelsea defenders. Smith quickly scrambled the ball back across goal on the slide where two players in black and red lurked, and Murray nudged the simplest of headers into an empty net. Remarkable.
Updated
GOAL! Chelsea 0-1 Bournemouth (Murray, 82 min)
A scramble ensues from a corner and Glenn Murray pounces unmarked to head in from a couple of yards!
79 mins: Josh King is down with cramp. The camera trains in on José, who looks thoroughly peeved.
77 mins: Chelsea continue to play on the front foot and it feels as if Bournemouth are happy with the point that they have one hand on. Costa isn’t done yet though: Fàbregas scoops a pass over the defence and Costa, 12 yards out, pokes a first-time volley at Boruc who makes the save.
Updated
74 mins: Ivanovic sweeps a pass across the box from the right and when Boruc misses it Costa must surely finish at the back post, but he can’t make decent contact with the ball! That was probably the best opportunity of the match.
Updated
70 mins: Bournemouth have been largely pinned back by a much more energetic Chelsea in this second half but perhaps the Blues are tiring a little. Eddie Howe’s side have started to see some more of the ball.
@LawrenceOstlere Chelsea haven't been half bad but sadly no one to finish moves off. Hopefully Costa does that. King has been vicious though
— Ronit Ray (@RonRay98) December 5, 2015
68 mins: Diego Costa might have had a second yellow card by now, you’ll be shocked to hear. He boots the ball after the whistle had gone, but it bounces back towards him off the hoardings so the interpretation of kicking the ball away is muddied a little. A couple of his team-mates are having a quiet word.
65 mins: “Handbaaall!” screams the Matthew Harding Stand as Diego Costa’s pass is deflected by Francis’s trailing arm on the ground as the defender slides. It looked a lot like a handball but Mike Jones is unmoved, that is until a clearly wound up Costa barges into Ritchie. Yellow card. He’s getting feisty.
Updated
62 mins: Diego Costa arrives late and bundles Smith to the floor. On Diego’s scale it’s small fry and the referee rightly lets it go.
Updated
60 mins: For all Chelsea’s huffing and puffing in the second half they’ve made few serious inroads and Bournemouth deserve credit. The visitors haven’t been allowed to play their natural game so far in this period and are having to dig in.
58 mins: Remember that time when Costa and Fàbregas and Hazard were all brilliant and Willian was the weak, largely unproductive link in Chelsea’s attack? Well the opposite of all that is now true. This time Willian picks out Ivanovic whose deflected cross almost catches out Boruc at his near post but the goalkeeper reacts just in time.
55 mins: Willian, temporarily out on the right, delivers a fast, flat one across the face but no one in blue is there to finish.
52 mins: Chelsea have started this have with lots of purpose and energy high up the pitch, but they continue to play to the backdrop of a collective hubbub of angst around Stamford Bridge.
50 mins: The substitution has meant Willian has moved into the middle, playing in behind Costa. Mourinho seems to make that move a lot in the second half and I’m not sure it ever brings great reward. Saying that, Willian picks up the ball 30 yards out and shuffles on to his right before flashing a shot across goal.
48 mins: Costa’s first involvement is to feed a pass wide for Hazard. He finds Rahman who crosses for Pedro to attempt an overhead, but it’s wide.
Updated
Kick-off
Bournemouth get things back under way at Stamford Bridge, and it’s no surprise to see Diego Costa replace Oscar.
Updated
Half-time: Chelsea 0-0 Bournemouth
Stamford Bridge lets out one final groan after a bit of overplaying by Hazard in the final third, and Mike Jones calls an end to the half. Both teams created a handful of half-chances and both goalkeepers made some useful saves, but this game is yet to really come to life. Perhaps Diego Costa will provide the missing spark after the break.
Updated
45+2 mins: Half-time looms and Chelsea remain the team on the front foot with Pedro weaving into the box, but Daniels does well to stop the Spaniard before he can get a shot away.
“Can we talk about Fabregas’ spray tan?” ponders Mike Casagranda. I’ll be honest, I hadn’t noticed it but I will be keeping a close eye.
45 mins: Chelsea work their third good chance in a few minutes, Pedro’s reverse pass finding the run of Oscar who shoots early with his left, but from a tight angle the shot needed to be special, and it wasn’t.
43 mins: Chelsea create another decent sight of goal, Hazard cutting the ball back to the penalty spot where Oscar lurked, but his placed finish was blocked by one of several Bournemouth bodies in its path.
41 mins: Pedro gets a shot away under pressure, but it’s deflected and then pushed wide by Boruc, and the following corner comes to nothing.
39 mins: Matt Ritchie bends a dangerous free-kick towards the back post which Chelsea scramble clear but Bournemouth come straight back at them. They work the ball to Josh King who tries for the top corner when he might have been better finding a team-mate. He finds the crowd.
37 mins: Fàbregas curls in a cross from the right but it’s a little high and little too close to Artur Boruc, who makes an easy catch. Stamford Bridge sighs. Apparently the scoreline may not be showing at the top of the page. Apologies if this is the case (it’s 0-0).
35 mins: Hazard makes a lovely dart in from the right wing, reminiscent of some of his best stuff last season, before unleashing a shot at Boruc’s near post. The goalkeeper dives across well to beat it away and Bournemouth break quickly, but it comes to nothing.
32 mins: Bournemouth were attacking in waves early in the match, stealing the ball high up the pitch and trying to create a quick opportunity, but now they are getting hold of it and building from deep. They are the better side so far at Stamford Bridge.
Bib update: Diego Costa is warming up quite professionally. It’s heart-warming. He’s wearing lime green.
Updated
29 mins: Bournemouth look very confident and Dan Gosling is the latest to try his luck. His long-range strike is deflected over the bar for a corner.
Updated
27 mins: Pedro pokes an effort over the bar.
Re José Mourinho’s quote earlier, Ben Garnett emails: “Didn’t Spurs play with a ‘famous five’ up front under Ossie Ardiles? I vaguely recall one season in the mid-90s where they seemed to win or lose every game 4-3, playing with Jurgen Klinsmann, Teddy Sheringham, Ilie Dumitrescu, Nick Barmby and Darren Anderton. Brilliantly entertaining!”
What a team, I’m sure Kevin Keegan must have tried it at Newcastle at some stage too. You could argue Arsenal do it most weeks, with Francis Coquelin holding while five players who don’t much like defending try to score.
Updated
24 mins: Pedro has it dished out to him a moment later. The winger was weaving through the middle of the pitch before Andrew Surman came across and put a stop to that sort of carry-on, and Bournemouth’s midfielder conductor is booked for the challenge.
22 mins: Pedro takes a horrible, rusty, rickety touch with his shin-pad and in trying to retrieve possession hacks down Harry Arter. Yellow card.
Updated
20 mins: Another pause as Josh King goes down holding his face after a tussle with Zouma.
17 mins: Since the first couple of minutes Bournemouth have been the better side, pressing high and pinching possession in dangerous areas. For now there’s a lull in the match however, with Gary Cahill down holding his right leg. It looks as if he is OK to continue.
15 mins: Courtois makes another save. This time Gosling comes forward and slides a pass into King on the right where Rahman surely should be. King takes advantage of the space to get a powerful shot away but the Belgian parries the effort clear at his toes.
13 mins: He’s only just back in the side but already Courtois is proving his importance to Chelsea. Bournemouth spark a quick counter and Stanislas streams clear into the box, but his left-footed shot is saved well and Josh King can’t get hold of the rebound.
Updated
11 mins: Daniels clatters through the back of Oscar 40 yards from goal, but Chelsea resist the temptation to lump the ball into the box and take it short.
9 mins: Bournemouth create their first opportunity of the match, Smith’s cross whipped in from the right which falls kindly for Stanislas but Courtois saves well low down.
7 mins: Chelsea keep up their early pressure, a Willian corner worked back out to the Brazilian who whips a delicious cross in the sort of area a striker might like to attack, but there isn’t one in blue and Boruc collects.
5 mins: The camera has mainly been on Diego Costa so far, sitting on the bench behind José Mourinho. On the pitch Josh King gets a couple of touches in the Chelsea box but Zouma quickly shuts the door.
Updated
2 mins: Bournemouth are on their heels immediately as Willian and Hazard play a two-three which winds up with Hazard in the box, but his high shot from a tight angle is parried by Boruc.
Kick-off
Mike Jones gives his whistle a peeeeeep! and Chelsea get the game under way in their usual blue and white, Bournemouth in red and black.
Updated
The players shake hands and Stamford Bridge is ready to go.
Updated
The managers speak
Eddie Howe admits that getting Artur Boruc fit in time for this game was a close call, but with Adam Federici injured he was clearly reluctant to rely on the third choice goalkeeper, Ryan Allsop, a 23-year-old who spent last season on loan at Coventry City.
José Mourinho defends his decision not to play a recognised striker at home to struggling opposition: “We play with four defenders, two midfielders and four attackers. I don’t know a team who play five.” Someone must have fielded five strikers before, surely?
“I think that Costa was more disrespectful to the club he’s representing than to Mourinho,” emails Ezra Finkelstein. “Expect more magic from Willian.”
I’ve been to Stamford Bridge for a few matches this season and Willian was Chelsea’s best player every time. On the most recent occasion incidentally, Branislav Ivanovic, Chelsea’s captain today, Cruyff-turned the ball off the pitch by his own corner flag under no pressure whatsoever. That is a special level of ineptitude.
Line-ups
Chelsea: Courtois; Ivanovic, Zouma, Cahill, Rahman; Fabregas, Matic; Willian, Oscar, Pedro; Hazard
Subs: Begovic, Azpilicueta, Mikel, Loftus-Cheek, Traore, Remy, Diego Costa
Bournemouth: Boruc; Daniels, Cook, Francis, Smith; Gosling, Surman; Ritchie, Arter Stanislas; King
Subs: Allsop, Cargill, Butcher, O’Kane, Kermorgant, Murray, Rantie
Referee: Mike Jones
Diego Costa will start on the bench for the second week in a row. Tantrum-warm-up-bib-throw Mark II? Let’s hope so. Full line-ups on the way.
Preamble
In one of several moments in the excellent BBC documentary on Salford City which brought everything down to earth, the managers, Anthony Johnson and Bernard Morley, were asked about their decision to sanction a team night out two days before a crucial league match. The players had ignored orders to have only one beer, getting drunk on the Thursday before losing on the Saturday.
José Mourinho has faced some of the same questions this week, and although there is nothing wrong with players enjoying a Christmas party – Chelsea might have needed a timely knees up more than most – in this chaotic season there is something apt about the parallels with a semi-professional club in the seventh tier.
There have been too many strops, bibs and points thrown away already this campaign, but perhaps, maybe, possibly, who knows ... the tide is changing. Since losing to Stoke nearly a month ago Chelsea have gone undefeated in three games without conceding a goal. Today Thibaut Courtois is expected to return, hailed as the best goalkeeper in the world this week by his manager, as Chelsea look to extend that recovery and distance themselves from a catalogue of flimsy performances.
For Bournemouth it is time to dig in. The Premier League table tends to transform in one way or another over the Christmas period and their task is simply to keep in touch with those above them: five of their next seven fixtures are against top-half sides and the other two offer little respite, with a trip to the Hawthorns and today’s game at Stamford Bridge.
Bournemouth’s slump has left them in the bottom three in the league, but cruelly they remain on the up and up in the injury charts with 10 first-team players sidelined. The No2 goalkeeper, Adam Federici, injured his ankle punching a corner in last weekend’s 3-3 thriller at Everton and the recently returned Harry Arter also limped off holding his hamstring.
Here are two teams struggling with their own turmoils, trying to make sense of it all. They haven’t met since 1994 so there is little precedent. In a season like this one, and on a day when Stoke beat first-placed Man City 2-0 seven days after losing to 19th-placed Sunderland by the same score, it is probably not worth trying to predict.
Kick-off: 5.30pm GMT
Updated
