The international break came at an ideal time for Chelsea, who seek to put an end to a two-game winless run in Saturday's Premier League showdown with Bournemouth.
The Blues could only muster a point from a 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace two weekends ago, while the Cherries pulled off one of the greatest comebacks the competition has ever seen against Everton.
Match preview
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Chelsea's off-field activity has generated far more debate and furore than the on-field exploits of Enzo Maresca's men so far this season, but with the transfer window now closed for business until January, the newly-appointed manager can focus purely on footballing matters for the next few months.
The Blues' season had seemingly kicked into gear with back-to-back victories over Servette and Wolverhampton Wanderers, hitting the latter for six at Molineux, only for Maresca's men to suffer an embarrassing - albeit inconsequential - second-leg loss to the Swiss side in their Europa Conference League qualifier second leg.
Despite Maresca's wealth of alterations for the visit of Crystal Palace, who have failed to replicate their stellar end-of-season form from 2023-24, the Chelsea faithful left with a familiar sense of disappointment, as Eberechi Eze's stunner cancelled out a Nicolas Jackson effort.
With one win, one draw and one loss on their mixed report card for 2024-25, the Blues are in familiar territory as far as the Premier League rankings are concerned, sitting in 11th place but just one point and three spots worse off than their upcoming opponents.
A three-match winning run away from home in the Premier League does stand Chelsea in good stead for Saturday, but their abysmal defensive record does not; the visitors have failed to keep a clean sheet in 17 straight top-flight matches on the road since shutting out Fulham in October 2023.
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Flash back to March 2023, where Bournemouth took a shock 2-0 lead at the Emirates against Arsenal only to succumb to a mesmerising Gunners fightback, capped off by a 97th-minute Reiss Nelson winner in a 3-2 extravaganza.
However, the Cherries were on the right end of such a tremendous turnaround at Goodison Park two weekends ago, where with 87 minutes on the clock, Everton's two-goal lead - given to them by Michael Keane and Dominic Calvert-Lewin - was still intact.
Antoine Semenyo's late effort would ostensibly be scant consolation, but the Cherries faithful began to believe when Lewis Cook nodded in an injury-time equaliser, before Luis Sinisterra went from provider to goalscorer with an unbelievable back-post header to spark a mass exodus of aghast Evertonians.
Setting a new record for the latest a team has ever come back from two goals down to win a Premier League game, Andoni Iraola's never-say-die men are still unbeaten in league action this term and sit eighth in the standings as a result, but they have never gone without defeat in their first four matches of a top-flight campaign before.
Furthermore, not since the pre-lockdown days of December 2019 have Bournemouth got one over Chelsea in the Premier League, losing three of their five top-flight battles since then, although they dug in for a hard-fought 0-0 draw at the Vitality almost exactly 12 months ago.
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Team News
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After being provided with an escape route by Maresca, Manchester United loanee Jadon Sancho could make his first appearance for Chelsea this weekend, having not been eligible to feature against Palace on account of his last-minute deadline-day arrival.
Another one-time Mancunian - Cole Palmer - pulled out of the England squad with a thigh injury but has since been pictured in training, suggesting that he will be fine to feature this weekend, while goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen has trained too.
However, Reece James (thigh), Malo Gusto (thigh), Omari Kellyman (thigh) and Romeo Lavia (thigh) could all miss the trip south, where Axel Disasi may have to fill in as a makeshift right-back.
As for Bournemouth, Kepa Arrizabalaga will lose his place in goal just after gaining it, as the Blues loanee cannot face his parent club on Saturday. With Neto now donning the red of Arsenal, Mark Travers is set to guard the posts.
The Cherries have also lost Dango Ouattara to an ankle issue sustained on international duty; he joins Tyler Adams (back) on the sidelines, but Enes Unal (foot) and Philip Billing (back) might return.
Following a performance which has put him in contention for the Game Changer of the Season award, Sinisterra should certainly be rewarded with promotion to the first XI, as either Evanilson or Marcus Tavernier make way.
Bournemouth possible starting lineup:
Travers; Araujo, Zabarnyi, Huijsen, Kerkez; Scott, Cook; Semenyo, Kluivert, Sinisterra; Evanilson
Chelsea possible starting lineup:
Sanchez; Disasi, Fofana, Colwill, Cucurella; Fernandez, Caicedo; Madueke, Palmer, Felix; Jackson
We say: Bournemouth 1-2 Chelsea
Chelsea playing away from home almost always means no clean sheet for the men in blue, who should not end their streak without a shut-out against a goal-happy Bournemouth crop, even if the two-week hiatus came at the worst time for Iraola's side.
In contrast, a fortnight's reset should have done the Blues the world of good, and we have faith in Maresca's wealth of attacking options to breach a youthful Cherries backline at least twice en route to victory.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ben Knapton
