Christian Pulisic Pale as Chelsea Slips Against Bournemouth

Christian Pulisic and his Chelsea suffered an unpleasant surprise today at Stamford Bridge. Bournemouth went home with all three points, inflicting the Blues a defeat they surely didn’t expect.

Although the home team had the initiative throughout the entire game, and more than 67% of the ball possession, they couldn’t beat inspired Aaron Ramsdale. The Cherries goalkeeper had five saves today and was impeccable in front of the net.

Meanwhile, Chelsea struggled upfront, with Pulisic and Willian useless at certain phases of the match. That forced Frank Lampard to replace both of them in the 65th minute. The American forward was probably the worst player on the field of Stamford today, missing a couple of excellent chances, and not managing to create anything worthy of mentioning in the midfield.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gwdYpEjWA4

The event was decided in the 84th minute, with Dan Gosling scoring following a good reaction after Jefferson Lerma’s assist. At first, the linesman had lifted his flag up, but after the VAR check, the goal was confirmed.

Until the end of the game, the hosts couldn’t do anything to avoid the unpleasant defeat, which now puts them in a difficult position when looking at the standings. Chelsea is fourth with 29 points, 20 fewer than Liverpool who earlier today defeated Watford, 2-0. What is more important for Lampard’s guys is the fact that their rivals for the Champions League spot might decrease the gap between them, and make it much harder for the Blues to secure a ticket to the most prominent Europan competition.

“They were very organised and we had to make it more difficult for them but we didn’t. We had a really good patch and now we have lost three of four games and you say, “woah, that’s reality, lads,” Lampard said.

Bournemouth on the other side got away from the relegation zone and is awaiting Burnely in the next round in the hope of adding another three points. Chelsea has a local derby with Tottenham and a meeting with their old manager, Jose Mourinho.

Leicester Slips After Nine Wins

Although they haven’t lost, Foxes’ draw against Norwich City is a disaster for Brendan Rodgers’ crew. Only 1-1 at Kings Power stadium is labelled as an utterly bad result after nine straight wins in a row. Teemu Pukki had a chance to score the opener in the 17th minute but missed an empty net. However, the Fin did strike nine minutes later, shocking the hosts who were anything but focused on the things on the court.

Then again, the lead of the guests didn’t last too long with their goalkeeper Tim Krul scoring an own goal due to his clumsy reaction after Jamie Vardy sent one header towards the net.

Leicester dominated in the second half, but couldn’t break the stubborn Canaries, especially Krul who redeemed himself for his previous mistake.

“I am happy. Leicester is a hard place to come to and they have been on an amazing run,” said Pukki after the game. “I am a bit disappointed as I had some chances I could have got in.”

Newcastle lost at Turf Moore against Burnley with a minimal result, 1-0, and the guests from the north were far from happy with the way the main official Tim Robinson performed in this match. According to them, Robinson didn’t call for an obvious foul which preceded Burnley’s goal and directly affected the outcome of this match.

“The referee, it was his first game, and unfortunately it looked like it,” the Magpies manager Steve Bruce furiously told the reporters after the game. “Unfortunately I think he’s found it difficult today from the very first whistle.

Chris Wood scored that sole goal in this event.

Sheffield United was better than Aston Villa with 2-0, with John Fleck’s brace in the second half.