By KIERAN GILL, MAIL SPORT REPORTER
Published: 13:40 EST, 6 December 2025 | Updated: 13:40 EST, 6 December 2025
Liam Delap was having a chat on the 60th floor of Chelsea’s team hotel overlooking Philadelphia in June when we brought up the No 9 shirt he had selected after signing from Ipswich Town.
We told him how it supposedly comes with a curse. How Fernando Torres, Alvaro Morata, Gonzalo Higuain, Romelu Lukaku, Radamel Falcao, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and others had struggled to live up to their hype or cost in it. How he was the first striker to touch that jersey in two years.
Delap laughed and said he did not believe in such nonsense. Only a number, nothing more. No hex here, you’ll see.
But given the way his season has unfolded – with another injury befalling him here – you would not blame this 22-year-old Englishman for beginning to look for reasons behind his bad luck.
He has scored two goals in 17 games for Chelsea, neither of which have come in the Premier League. He started against Bournemouth, but was substituted in the 32nd minute after landing awkwardly at a corner and with Marcos Senesi on top of him. It injured his shoulder, and Daily Mail Sport later saw him with his right arm in a sling.
Having already missed two months with a hamstring injury, he now faces another spell on the sidelines. ‘Unfortunately he was already out for two months and he has to be out again,’ Enzo Maresca told us afterwards. ‘We don't know for how long. But it looks quite bad, his shoulder.’
Liam Delap may start to feel he has been hit by Chelsea's No 9 curse after his latest injury
He looked in severe discomfort as he was withdrawn in the first half away at Bournemouth
Marc Guiu, the 19-year-old Spaniard, replaced Delap. Chelsea had scored in 20 consecutive games in all competitions since opening the season with a 0-0 draw against Crystal Palace, but neither Guiu nor Delap ever looked like breaking through Bournemouth. The same went for Cole Palmer, a starter here for the first time since September, and Joao Pedro, a second-half substitution.
Save for a five-minute spell after half-time when the players presumably could still hear Maresca’s voice ringing in their ears, Chelsea lacked creativity and clinicalness.
Before signing Delap for £30million, they were linked with Victor Osimhen, the 26-year-old Nigerian who scored a sensational bicycle-kicked winner for Galatasaray this weekend. Osimhen's luck has been in, and Delap’s, most definitely, is out.
Chelsea need creativity
Speaking of strikers, Chelsea have already signed a new one for next season – Emmanuel Emegha from their sister side Strasbourg in France. Whether the 22-year-old Dutchman’s arrival would be allowed to be sped up for January, we do not know.
Whoever leads the line from now on, they need service, and one reason why Chelsea struggled here was their wingers failed to inject any creativity into this contest.
Pedro Neto and Alejandro Garnacho lacked that last killer action and in the 77th minute, Estevao Willian and Jamie Gittens were ready to replace them. Both were stripped, only for the Brazilian to come on for Garnacho and for the Englishman to be told to sit back down on the bench. That was Chelsea’s last-remaining substitution window and so Gittens never got any game time here.
Much like Tosin Adarabioyo, who, after his horror show in Wednesday’s 3-1 loss at Leeds, was dropped from the squad. We are told his absence was simply a selection decision and not injury related. Trevoh Chalobah and Wesley Fofana have to be Chelsea’s first-choice pairing, while Robert Sanchez was the visitors’ best performer here in how he denied Antoine Semanyo and Co from scoring.
Alejandro Garnacho (pictured) and Pedro Neto lacked much of a creative spark
Chelsea lost the midfield battle and definitely missed Moises Caicedo's influence
Bournemouth win the midfield battle
Andoni Iraola said he would have allowed Chelsea to play Moises Caicedo if it meant he could use Tyler Adams and Lewis Cook, both defensive midfielders sidelined for this clash.
Bournemouth won the midfield battle regardless with Reece James and Enzo Fernandez unable to take hold of this match. Iraola’s side certainly made use of the Caicedo-shaped hole in their opponents' set-up.
Chelsea put in stellar performances against Barcelona and Arsenal, but have now disappointed in back-to-back trips to Leeds and Bournemouth.
Whereas previously they were being talked up as potential title contenders in the Premier League, now that conversation is drifting towards whether they are consistent enough to stay on course in their top-four push.
BournemouthChelsea