Nkunku On Target As Chelsea Beat Bournemouth 1-0
Substitute Christopher Nkunku netted a late goal to snatch a 1-0 away win for Chelsea at Bournemouth in a game with a Premier League record 14 yellow cards.
The Cherries had the bulk of the chances and their £40m record signing Evanilson missed an excellent opportunity to score his first Premier League goal when he had a poor first-half penalty parried away by Robert Sanchez.
Bournemouth constantly tormented Chelsea’s defence, with both Marcus Tavernier and Ryan Christie having efforts denied by the woodwork.
But they were made to pay by Nkunku, who prodded the ball past Mark Travers after a through-ball from debutant Jadon Sancho.
It was a hard-fought and aggressive encounter, with referee Anthony Taylor handing out more yellow cards than ever before in a Premier League match.
The six bookings for Bournemouth and eight for Chelsea eclipsed the previous record of 12 handed out in Chelsea v Tottenham in 2016 and Wolves v Newcastle in 2010.
“It is not a problem for me with this amount of yellow cards,” Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca said. “It is what it is.
“Sometimes the game demands the way you have to behave.”
Chelsea, who move up to seventh, will play West Ham at 12:30 BST next Saturday in their next Premier League game, while 11th-placed Bournemouth will visit Liverpool at 15:00 BST later that day.
Bournemouth’s previous Premier League game saw a spectacular late fightback as they beat Everton after being two goals down on 86 minutes – and they began with similar vigour on Saturday.
Tavernier struck the crossbar within the opening few minutes as Andoni Iraola’s side took the game to Chelsea, charging into their third and making the most of a disjointed visiting defence.
The Cherries produced some neat final-third moves, with Tavernier and Justin Kluivert instrumental in a significant amount of the link-up play.
Their midfield did well defensively, too, with Christie and Lewis Cook performing to a high standard to shut down many of Chelsea’s attempts to play through the lines.
There were, however, shortcomings in their play. Bournemouth had the better chances, but they found converting them into clear-cut opportunities difficult.
That ultimately proved costly for Iraola’s men, who had 19 shots and seven on target without scoring.
