Bournemouth vs Chelsea: Blues drop points again to lose ground in title race

Enzo Maresca's Chelsea lost ground in the Premier League title race and settled for a 0-0 draw away at Bournemouth.

Bournemouth were looking for their first win in five games, and set about putting that right with a positive start that placed Chelsea firmly on the back foot.

In fact, the home fans were celebrating after just four minutes when Antoine Semenyo thought he’d ended his six-game run without a goal contribution, side-footing home a loose ball only to be denied by a marginal Evanilson offside in the build-up.

 The Blues eventually recovered from a shaky start, yet the Cherries still looked the likelier to break the first-half deadlock, and they came incredibly close to doing so 10 minutes before the break when Robert Sánchez touched Semenyo’s strike into the path of Evanilson, who couldn’t hit the target.

The second half followed the same pattern but Chelsea finally showed some urgency with Alejandro Garnacho hitting the post from close range.

Chelsea had failed to score in just one of their 14 PL matches this season, but a lack of spark in forward areas meant that the Blues could have few complaints about a draw.