Chelsea cruised to a 4-1 win over Bournemouth at Vitality Stadium to continue their push to end the season on a high. Eden Hazard ended his Premier League goal drought after 28 games and 1947 minutes and scored a morale-boosting brace.
With title race, top-4 quest and the relegation battle on everyone’s mind, this game had very little importance for even their own sets of fans. Both clubs are safe this season and have very little left to play for from now and until the end of this season.
Following the full-time result at Vitality Stadium, we take a look at key talking points and things learned from Chelsea’s 4-1 win over Bournemouth.
Chelsea and Hazard needed this result
Despite their season being over, Chelsea players need to show their commitment towards the club and more importantly have to play for their place in Antonio Conte’s starting XI next season.
The player who was under the biggest pressure was Eden Hazard. The Belgian made a return to the lineup, and ended up scoring his first goal of a very poor season. Hazard would hope to build on the result and be a key player for The Blues in coming seasons.
Fabregas-Matic partnership vital for Chelsea
There have been times this season when Chelsea have missed Nemanja Matic’s presence in the midfield. John Obi-Mikel may have played well but it never seemed enough for Chelsea to dominate games.
With Matic back in the starting XI, it was not a surprise to see Fabregas play to his best as the Spaniard made 3 assists against Bournemouth and looked like his old self from last season.
Callum Wilson feeling his way back from injury
Bournemouth could have secured their safety well early in the season had Callum Wilson not got injured. His knee ligament injury was a huge setback for The Cherries and it took them weeks to find an alternate method of playing their football.
Wilson made his return from the injury last week and since then has played close to half an hour in both the games. His fitness and goals will be crucial for Bournemouth as they look to extend their stay in England’s top flight football.
Pedro playing to save his Chelsea career
Former Barcelona forward has experienced a troublesome start to his Chelsea career. Lately he has been amongst the goals and has looked bright. Playing from the wide positions, Pedro has provided Chelsea with pace and precision going forward and has chipped with few goals as well.
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