(Football news) Chelsea are currently 12th in the Premier League having lost 7 and drawn 2 of their last 9 games. The London club now play 13th placed Bournemouth who are level on points with them. Frank Lampard needs to lift his men to at least a draw. There is still a chance that Chelsea might get relegated as they haven’t been winning games. There is way too much quality in this squad to not beat Bournemouth but they just haven’t shown that quality this season. Bournemouth are in decent form having won 2 games on the bounce against Southampton and Leeds.

Chelsea will be without the services of Reece James, Mason Mount and Armando Broja, Kalidou Koulibaly and Marc Cucurella who are all injured. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is likely to drop to the bench after a disappointing performance against his former club Arsenal. Kai Havertz and Joao Felix are in line to start up front. Noni Madueke is likely to keep his place as he was arguably the only player who played well in the last game. Marcus Tavernier, Ryan Fredericks and Junior Stanislas are all unavailable for Bournemouth while Chris Mepham, Kieffer Moore and Hamed Traore are all major doubts.

Chelsea have nothing left to play for this season but they would like to finish in the top half of the table. Mauricio Pochettino is the front-runner to get the manager’s post at Stamford Bridge next season and he will be taking inputs from Frank Lampard. If Chelsea finish this last part of the season well then they will be able to build a platform for next season. 

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