Christopher Nkunku stepped off the bench and combined with debutant Jadon Sancho to deliver a 1-0 victory for Chelsea at Bournemouth.
The home side had an Evanilson penalty saved and Marcus Tavernier and Ryan Christie both hit the woodwork, but with just four minutes of normal time remaining, Chelsea’s substitutes linked up to grab maximum points for the visitors.
Standout Sancho, a Deadline Day loan signing from Manchester United, stepped in off the left flank before playing Nkunku into the box, where the forward spun and finished into the bottom corner for his first league goal of the season.
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Christopher Nkunku won it for Chelsea late on at Bournemouth
The late winner capped a night of drama on the south coast, with the match also seeing a record 14 yellow cards dished out. It was far from an aggressive battle of a game but both sides may feel the other should have been down to 10, with Lewis Cook and Marc Cucurella going close to picking up a second booking in the second half.
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Marcus Tavernier hit a rocket against the Chelsea crossbar
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Ryan Christie was denied by the post as Bournemouth troubled Chelsea
Chelsea – who had goalkeeper Robert Sanchez to thank for his spot-kick save in the first half after Wesley Fofana’s poor backpass had led to the Spaniard tumbling Evanilson – have now won both of their away games this season and are up to seventh in the early Premier League table.
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Robert Sanchez made amends as Evanilson was denied from the penalty spot in Chelsea’s clash with Bournemouth
Bournemouth sit 11th, with their unbeaten start to the campaign over. After grabbing a thrilling late win at Everton before the international break, Andoni Iraola’s side will be left wondering what could have been if Tavernier’s rocket, Christie’s drive or that penalty for Evanilson had found the net.
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Moments before Evanilson missed his penalty against Chelsea, Cole Palmer spent seemingly tried to distract the Brazilian
Redknapp: Chelsea move could be transformational for Sancho
Sky Sports’ Jamie Redknapp:
“Confidence is key in football. When you’re feeling confident, you’re a much better player.
“When this transfer happened, I thought it was one of the strangest transfers I’ve seen in years. Predominantly Chelsea are overloaded with wide players – Madueke, Nkunku, Neto, players who can play in the wide area. So you’re thinking: how is he going to get a game in this Chelsea team?
“Chelsea feel it was financially a good one to get in the club. He’s come in and obviously trained well as he took Pedro Neto off at half-time, unless there was an injury, and he came in and looked sharp. There was good chemistry with Cucurella, which sometimes comes naturally in training. And he looks like he’s enjoying his football.
“Let’s be totally honest: at Manchester United he was really poor. He went to Borussia Dortmund and he looked good in the Champions League. He did good things, he’s got his confidence back, his shoulders back and he’s enjoying his football again.
“This might be a transformational move for him, this might get his career back on track. He’s too talented a player.
“Time doesn’t wait for anybody in football, before you know it your career is over. You get to 25, 26 and you think: ‘What am I doing now? I haven’t set the standards I should be.’
“Are you training right? Are you living right? These are questions that have been made against Jadon. What you can’t question is his skill and his ability. So I really hope it works out for him.”
Maresca: You have to get your t-shirt dirty!
Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca:
“You have to win games in this way. We played two different games. The first half, we struggled. We didn’t win duels, we didn’t win second balls. The second half we were much better.
“You cannot come here in this stadium and think to win the game without getting your t-shirt dirty. You need to win duels, you need to fight. If we are able to do this for 95 minutes, you have more chances to win games.”
Iraola: Chelsea keeper Sanchez was best player on the pitch
Bournemouth head coach Andoni Iraola:
“We played really well. We had many more chances than them. Their ‘keeper, especially, made the difference. He was the best player on the pitch.
“I will not talk about the referee. I’ve been talking and it’s not working. I will try the opposite: not talk and see if something happens.”
