A familiar weakness reared its head for Chelsea in their 2-2 draw against Bournemouth in the final Premier League game of 2025.
Enzo Maresca’s side got off to the worst possible start when they failed to deal with a long throw in, allowing David Brooks to score at the second time of asking.
After goals from Cole Palmer and Enzo Fernandez had temporarily turned things around, Justin Kluivert was the benefactor of another throw in, this time being given a helping hand by Trevoh Chalobah.
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Antoine Semenyo was recently a Chelsea transfer target, however every time the ball was in his hands at Stamford Bridge there was a real fear that the Blues could concede.
Chelsea v Bournemouth - Premier League
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Chelsea set-piece coach issued frantic instructions after conceding from two long throw-ins
Maresca and his staff were desperate to address this, and journalist Kieran Gill noticed that set-piece coach Bernardo Cueva was frantically giving out instructions to try and deal with things better.
He said: “Bournemouth with another long-throw opportunity and Chelsea set-piece coach Bernardo Cueva is at the front of the technical area trying to position players. Chelsea manage not to concede from this one…”
The Blues had already been stung this season from long throw-ins. They dropped two points in the final seconds against Brentford when they failed to deal with one.
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Alejandro Garnacho in the spotlight again
When Fabio Carvalho found the net for Brentford, fingers were pointed at Alejandro Garnacho’s lack of concentration at the back post as his man lost him on his debut.
How good has this guy been tonight?
Estevao Willian vs Bournemouth
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Unfortunately, it does not look as if lessons were learnt ahead of this game, with the winger again losing Kluivert.
It is becoming a pattern Maresca will be looking for his summer signing to avoid making a regular one, with it proving to be costly on numerous occasions for the Blues.
With that said, Chelsea need to learn to deal with the first contact way better from these set-pieces. They looked vulnerable every time a ball was hurled into their penalty area.
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