Chelsea were held to a 2-2 draw with Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night.
The visitors took an early lead inside six minutes through David Brooks after Chelsea failed to clear their lines from a long throw, and the Welshman’s rebound from an initial header gave the Cherries the lead.
At the quarter-of-an-hour mark, Estevao Willian was brought down in the area by Antoine Semenyo, and the Blues were awarded a penalty.
Cole Palmer stepped up to take the spot-kick and dispatched it calmly past former Blue Djordje Petrovic to restore parity.
Moments later, Alejandro Garnacho was a whisker away from getting on the end of a low Liam Delap delivery.
In the 23rd minute, Enzo Fernandez fired Chelsea ahead; he initiated the move and found Garnacho on the left, who made his way into the area, picking out Fernandez, and the Argentine drilled in a powerful shot into the top corner.
Five minutes later, the Cherries drew level through Justin Kluivert as the host failed to clear their lines again from a Semenyo’s long throw which was flicked to the back post by Trevor Chalobah for the Dutchman to tap home the equaliser.
Just before the break, Semenyo could’ve given Bournemouth the lead, but his effort was denied by Robert Sanchez.
At the other end, Estevao saw his header from Garnacho’s cross bounce wide of the near post.
Enzo Maresca made two changes at the break, with Reece James and Pedro Neto replacing Josh Acheampong and Garnacho as the Blues looked for the winner.
In the 54th minute, the Cherries appealed for a penalty when Tavernier’s cross to the back post came off Malo Gusto’s arm, but after a VAR review, the appeals were waved away.
Estevao thought he had put Chelsea back ahead after he picked out the bottom corner from outside the area, but Petrovic was equal to the task and parried away the ball to deny the youngster.
Chelsea continued to push for the winner, and Fernandez was then next to have a go at goal, but his effort from inside the area flew just over the bar.
In the closing stages of the game, the Blues were presented with a series of corners but couldn’t make them count as the Cherries held their lines well.
Deep into stoppage-time, Enes Unal could’ve snatched a late winner for the Cherries after he met a cross from the right but his effort flew over the bar from a promising position.
Chelsea travel to the Etihad to take on Manchester City in their first game of 2026 on 4th January.