CHELSEA needed a late moment of magic from Christopher Nkunku to snatch all three points from Bournemouth.
Marcus Tavernier crashed a super strike against the crossbar early on before Robert Sanchez saved an Evanilson penalty before the break.
Jadon Sancho came on at half-time while Joao Felix then Nkunku also got thrown on by Enzo Maresca as the Blues struggled to find a breakthrough.
In fact there were more yellow cards than shots on target as Anthony Taylor ran out of space in his notebook.
But with five minutes to go, Sancho cut inside and threaded a superb pass for Nkunku, who held off his markers and found the net in style.
Here’s how SunSport’s Graham Nickless rated Maresca’s men…
Man-of-the-match show with first-half penalty save from Evanilson and a handful of excellent saves.
But rather fortunate to stay on the pitch after denying Evanilson a clear goalscoring opportunity with a deliberate foul that led to the spot-kick.
The right-back was given an uncomfortable night down the right side.
Given the runaround by Cherries dangerman Antoine Semenyo and was replaced just after the hour.
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Did his best to keep a clean sheet when run ragged by the home strikers.
Luckily for the centre-back, he could rely on Sanchez to keep them out.
Did his best to calm the storm that came the Blues’ way for most of the match.
Made sure he kept record-signing Evanilson away from notching his first Premier League goal.
Always busy and making a nuisance of himself when he wasn’t being buffeted by Semenyo’s marking.
But overdid it with one stupid, deliberate shoulder barge on the Bournemouth winger.
Suffered like most of his team-mates to open up the home side’s defence.
The Portuguese midfielder didn’t see enough of the ball to make an impact.
The captain was always looking for that defence-splitting pass when he wasn’t on defensive duty.
Gave an example to others around him who weren’t putting in a decent shift.
Was quite mad attempting an early shot at the home goal that ended up as a throw-in.
And it didn’t get much better than that for the winger who was hauled off just after the hour.
Rested by England for tired muscles and there wasn’t much energy in this performance.
But the Cherries, worried by his reputation, did target him in the first half.
Failed to make any impact on the wing but could claim he had little or no service.
Boss Maresca had seen enough and brought on Sancho to replace him at half-time.
https://twitter.com/SkySportsPL/status/1835041274199474386 https://twitter.com/SkySportsPL/status/1835057618781360415Chelsea fans won’t want to suffer another nine years of this from the big striker.
Had one shot comfortably saved and another blocked but will need to show more upfront for his ludicrous long contract.
Was booked 11 minutes after coming on then, looked likely throughout second half and set up equaliser.
Was seldom troubled.
Tidied up in midfield.
Burst through three players to score and snatch the winner.
