Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca was frustrated with his players after they dropped more points in the Premier League, this time against Bournemouth.
The Blues took the lead through Cole Palmer, who sold Mark Travers for a dummy before slotting the ball home early on.
But the Cherries team rose up and won a penalty kick after Moises Caicedo fouled Antoine Semenho inside the penalty area.
Justin Kluivert stepped up and curled his effort into the corner, sending Robert Sanchez flying the other way.
Simenho did it again 18 minutes later, as he danced inside the penalty area before hitting a powerful shot into the roof of the net.
Stamford Bridge was silent, as Chelsea looked forward to a shock defeat at home.
But Reece James – back from injury – saved a point.
And it all ends at the bridge.#CFCs | #CHEBOU pic.twitter.com/5hZULVXJtF
– Chelsea (@ChelseaFC) January 14, 2025
The full-back scored a free kick in the final minutes to equalize the score at 2-2, although this was not the result Chelsea wanted.
Speaking after the match, Maresca said: “I think in the first half we totally deserved to win the game. We should have scored three goals. When we conceded in the second half, we fell behind. We deserved to win the game when we created so many chances.
“It was one of the best parts of the season in the first half. We were aggressive and created chances. We are a bit unlucky in scoring goals. We make mistakes and then concede. We need to keep going. The bad thing, as I said, is that after the penalty we go down and there is no reason for us to do that.” .
“The game was completely under our control and that is something we need to improve on.
“I always have concerns even when we win games. This is the Premier League, when you don't create chances and don't score, you have to be more worried.
Reece James spoke about his comeback in an intimate interview, admitting he had been waiting for his moment and was happy to mark his comeback with a goal.
He said: “It was great to get that point and we should have put it away, but football is like that. If you don't take your chance, it can come back and hurt you.
“I'm happy and honored to be back representing this team and happy to be back helping the team. It's been frustrating and lonely, but I'm really happy to be back helping the team.”
“When we play against the big teams we are not shy. We will take each match individually and see where we end up at the end of the season.”
