Chelsea drew 0-0 with Bournemouth today in a truly dire game at the Vitality Stadium.
The Blues had nothing in attack. They didn’t even have a shot on target in the first half, and things didn’t improve much in the second period. Writing for the Athletic, Cerys Jones did manage to find one positive from the game for Enzo Maresca however.
The one positive from Chelsea’s dull draw
Enzo Maresca appeals on the touchline.
Enzo Maresca appeals on the touchline. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)
“[Chalobah and Fofana] have started five of Chelsea’s past eight fixtures across all competitions, going back to the 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur in October. They have kept clean sheets in four of those games, with the 1-1 draw against Arsenal the exception,” she wrote.
“Overall, their shutout at Bournemouth was another solid display. Chelsea suffered a shaky start with a few lapses in concentration when it came to marking, but Fofana and Chalobah worked well together and Maresca will hope their developing partnership can provide stability for Chelsea’s back line.”
It’s clutching at straws without doubt, but we identified on Fofana’s return a month ago that this would be our best partnership at the back, and so it’s proved. There is one major issue with it, however: Fofana can only play once a week, or three times in two weeks at a push.
That means it’s impossible for Maresca to not break up the partnership every couple of games, and we saw the results of that against Leeds earlier this week. When you combine that with Reece James’ similar limitations, it’s a recipe for instability.
In other news…
Cole Palmer’s return was supposed to spark something, but the attacking midfielder actually ended up featuring in our first 0-0 since the opening day of the season. His stats weren’t great, although his rating was good.
Tosin Adarabioyo wasn’t in the squad today, and some fans are taking this as a punishment, but it’s not quite that simple.
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