Reece James offers timely reminder of value as Chelsea punished for familiar failings If the surprise early in this season was at how quickly a young Chelsea team had progressed under Enzo Maresca, then the concern now is of how slowly they seem to learn.
James, though, will have to smile long into the night to cancel out Maresca’s ire, the Italian having watched his team again throw away a position of dominance after Cole Palmer’s 14th goal of the campaign had made it 1-0 early on.
For the fourth time in a five-match winless run in the Premier League, the Blues were punished for failing to kill a game they had run, as a bare bones Bournemouth roared back from a goal down to lead 2-1 at Stamford Bridge.
Nicolas Jackson, whose brilliant assist had made Palmer’s opener, still inevitably emerged as the guiltiest party, stuck in the midst of one of those ruts where the ball simply will not go in.
With Christopher Nkunku, unused here, the subject of Bayern Munich interest and Chelsea hoping for a £65million fee, is it beyond the realms that summer interest in a new centre-forward might be revived this month after all?.
