Preview: Bournemouth vs Chelsea - prediction, team news, lineups

Two Premier League teams seeking to bounce back from midweek defeats meet at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday afternoon, as Bournemouth play host to Chelsea.

The Cherries and the Blues square off for the first time since January when they played out a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge, where Reece James netted a dramatic 95th-minute equaliser for the hosts.

Match preview

November was not an enjoyable month for Bournemouth as they failed to win any of their four Premier League matches (D1 L3) and conceded 12 goals in the process, shipping three of those in a 3-2 defeat at Sunderland last weekend after boasting a two-goal lead.

The Cherries were unable to kick-start December on a positive note, as they fell to a narrow 1-0 home defeat to Everton on Tuesday night, with a 78th-minute winner from Toffees attacker Jack Grealish condemning Andoni Iraola’s side to their first loss at the Vitality Stadium this season.

After the match, Iraola lamented his team’s “really poor” performance against Everton and feels that a lack of energy, particularly in midfield, has contributed to his team’s decline in form, with just two wins posted across their last 10 league matches (D4 L4).

The Cherries' dismal streak has done Iraola’s reputation as a manager little favours, with the Spaniard - out of contract in the summer and recently linked with top European clubs - seeing his team plummet from second place in the Premier League table to 14th spot, albeit only five points behind Chelsea in fourth.

Seeking to avoid losing back-to-back home matches for the first time since April, Bournemouth have picked up 14 of their 19 Premier League points at the Vitality Stadium this term, but they have only ever beaten Chelsea twice in front of their own fans in 11 attempts, last doing so in January 2019 (4-0).

Chelsea produced one of their poorest performances of the campaign on Wednesday night when they suffered a surprise 3-1 defeat at relegation-threatened Leeds United, a result which has dented their faint Premier League title hopes.

Despite completing 630 passes - their most in the league this season - Chelsea created only three noteworthy chances and were also sloppy from a defensive perspective, with head coach Enzo Maresca admitting after the match that Leeds - a team who had lost their previous four games - were “better in all aspects”.

Sitting nine points behind Premier League leaders Arsenal, Chelsea had previously coped well in the absence of key playmaker Cole Palmer, losing just two games out of 16 in all competitions. However, losing midfield maestro Moises Caicedo to a three-match ban could prove costly, as they have only won two of their eight PL games without him since his arrival in 2023.

Chelsea have little time to reflect on their latest setback at Leeds, as they prepare for seven matches across all tournaments in the space of 24 days to conclude 2025, with Saturday’s trip to Bournemouth followed by a Champions League clash in Italy against Atalanta BC three days later.

Despite losing to Leeds, Chelsea still boast the joint-second best away record in the Premier League this season and have collected more points on the road (13) than they have at Stamford Bridge (11). The Blues are also unbeaten in four visits to Bournemouth (W2 D2), including a 1-0 success in their most recent away clash in September 2024.

Bournemouth Premier League form:

Chelsea Premier League form:

Chelsea form (all competitions):

Team News

Bournemouth’s Ryan Christie (knee) and Ben Gannon Doak (hamstring) remain sidelined with injuries, while Lewis Cook and Tyler Adams are both ruled out through suspension, with the latter serving a one-match ban after accumulating five yellow cards.

However, Marcos Senesi and David Brooks are both available to return from one-match suspensions, with the former expected to replace Veljko Milosavljevic at centre-back and the latter set to battle with Amine Adli for a spot on the right flank.

The absence of Cook and Adams could see Marcus Tavernier deputise in a deeper midfield role alongside Alex Scott, while Evanilson may be recalled to replace Eli Junior Kroupi as the central striker.

As for Chelsea, Caicedo will serve the second of a three-match suspension this weekend, while Levi Colwill (knee), Romeo Lavia, Dario Essugo (both thigh) and Mykhaylo Mudryk (suspended) are also unavailable for selection.

After missing 14 games in all competitions through injury, Palmer made a welcome return for the Blues as a second-half substitute in Chelsea’s defeat at Leeds, and Maresca must now weigh up whether to start the playmaker on Saturday.

Palmer starting in his preferred No.10 role could see Liam Delap drop out of the starting lineup and Joao Pedro pushed into the centre-forward position, while Enzo Fernandez will likely continue in a deeper midfield role and could play alongside captain Reece James, who was rested in midweek.

Pedro Neto and Alejandro Garnacho are both in contention to earn recalls out wide at the expense of Estevao and Jamie Gittens, while Malo Gusto is expected to return at right-back, which would allow Trevoh Chalobah to shift back over to centre-back and potentially play alongside Wesley Fofana.

Bournemouth possible starting lineup:

Petrovic; Jimenez, Diakite, Senesi, Truffert; Scott, Tavernier; Brooks, Kluivert, Semenyo; Evanilson

Chelsea possible starting lineup:

Sanchez; Gusto, Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; James, Fernandez; Neto, Palmer, Garnacho; Pedro

We say: Bournemouth 1-2 Chelsea

A closely-contested battle between two teams determined to return to winning ways is in store this weekend and few would be surprised to see the spoils shared this weekend.

However, we expect Chelsea to revert to a stronger side - potentially including Palmer - and they may just have enough to edge past an out-of-sorts Cherries outfit on this occasion.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.