Chelsea assistant coach Willy Caballero believes the Blues must learn to start games quicker if we are to achieve our aims this season, but is pleased with the number of chances we are creating, and issued a fitness update on Cole Palmer.
Our last match of 2025 was a highly entertaining one for the neutral, but a frustrating one for the Blues, as we were held to a 2-2 draw by Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge.
A first half full of chances saw the visitors take an early lead from a set-piece, before we fought back to lead ourselves through a Palmer penalty, after the lively Estevao Willian was brought down in the box, and a brilliant Enzo Fernandez strike. However, another long Bournemouth throw saw them equalise and we were unable to find the winning goal after the half-time break.
Caballero was filling in for Enzo Maresca - who has been suffering from illness - on post-match media duties and highlighted the early goal conceded as an area Chelsea need to work on going into the new year.
‘It was a difficult start but we have to deal with that,' said our assistant coach. 'We have to improve that and we go into the next couple of games and also the whole second half of the season trying to improve that.
‘In another view we are creating and we are scoring goals, which is good, but we need to manage to find a way to win those points, to kill those games, because these are the games that we’re going to need to achieve our targets in the second half of the season.
‘Sometimes it’s details, sometimes it’s because the opponent finds a way to break through, to create those chances, but we need to find the kind of mentality to avoid losing or drawing that kind of game.
‘We invest a lot and today was a really good game in terms of playing how we play, how we want to get in the box. We created many chances, but unfortunately we have to think more about the start.’
Caballero also assured supporters that there are no fresh concerns over Palmer, after our No10 was taken off during the second half, insisting it was merely a precaution as the Blues try to find the balance between short and long-term needs, by protecting a player recently returned from injury while finding the best solution to win matches.
‘We all want to have the best players on the pitch, but Cole is coming from a long injury as well,' he added. 'So we need to find the right substitutions to go for the game and also take care of the health of our players, because we want to have him for a long period and the rest of the season in every single game.'
Hopefully Palmer will be recovered and ready to go again when we kick off 2026 with back-to-back Premier League away trips, at Manchester City on Sunday and then Fulham next Wednesday evening.