Chelsea face Bournemouth at the Vitality stadium in a fixture which is a must win for the blues to finish as high as possible in the league. Guus Hiddink has just four matches remaining in his regime and the Dutchman will look to part ways with the blues on a good note. The two teams provide two different tales this campaign, one of a fall from grace like never seen before and the other of a success story defying all odds.
Last time when the two teams met proved to be the penultimate League game for the former manager, Jose Mourinho and the match ended 1-0 to the cherries thanks to the 82nd-minute winner by Glen Murray. Eddie Howe has been brilliant this season and deserves credit to keep his team out of the relegation battle, safe in the mid table all season.
Bournemouth are just three points behind Chelsea and the blues have to be at their best to gather all three points at Dean Court. The good news for Chelsea is that Eden Hazard will get some minutes under his belt against Bournemouth and will make a much-awaited return to the team. Let’s take a look at the three key battles that will decide the outcome of the game :
1. Joshua King vs Branislav Ivanovic :
King has been in fine form lately and has scored four goals in his last six games. He will be a handful for Ivanovic, and the Serb has to deal with the pace of King go negate his threat.
Ivanovic has had a torrid season and many have called for him to be offloaded in the summer. He has been a loyal servant to the club and if he does leave, he should perform at his best in the remaining games.
2. Matt Ritchie vs Baba Rehman :
Ritchie is one of the attacking threat that the cherries have and he has impressed everyone this season. He just cannot be afforded to be given space in wide areas or near the box, Ritchie can inflict damage to the blues.
Rehman has come into the scene for the last month and doesn’t look out of sorts at this level. He too has impressed the blues faithful and it will be an interesting battle to look forward to.
3. Diego Costa vs Steve Cook :
Cook is a no nonsense kind of a defender and is a hard tackler. He has been a Bournemouth regular and has done well offensively in set pieces too.
Costa likes to rile up the opponents and has been effective in taking the concentration out of the opponent’s game by stupid bust-ups. It will be exciting to see how the Cook vs Costa duel will pan out.