Jose Mourinho and his Chelsea squad will host Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge this Saturday, in a must-win match for the Blues.
Currently sitting in fourteenth place in the Premier League standings, only four spots above the relegation zone, Chelsea could tie thirteenth-placed West Brom with 18 points if they win Saturday.
They could also see themselves only one point away from the relegation zone with a loss and if Swansea, Norwich City, and Sunderland pick up wins over the weekend. That outcome could prove fatal to Mourinho’s job.
For Bournemouth, a win could mean getting away from the drop zone. And after their fantastic effort in the 3-3 draw against Everton, the Cherries won’t go down easy.
And neither will Chelsea. Recording only one win in their last five Premier League matches, the Blues are desperate for a good run of games.
Luckily for them, Chelsea has the worst defense in the Premier League ahead of them. Bournemouth has allowed 30 goals into their net in the 14 matches they’ve played.
The real question here is if the Blues will be able to take advantage of Bournemouth’s weak defense. Chelsea has not been a shadow of last year’s team when the topic is scoring. Mourinho’s team has found the bottom of the opposing net 17 times in 14 matches. Ironically, Bournemouth also has 17 Premier League goals this season.
Nevertheless, the Cherries still have to play without their top scorer, Callum Wilson. The 23-year-old, who scored five goals in seven matches for Bournemouth, is injured and is only expected to return in April.
Chelsea, on the other hand, has its main striker available. The problem is that Diego Costa and Jose Mourinho seem to be in the middle of an ego war at Stamford Bridge. The manager decided to bench Costa in the crucial derby against Tottenham, and the striker didn’t take it too well. The icing on the cake for the media was when Costa, furious about warming up and not subbing into the game, tossed his warm-up bib in Mourinho’s direction as he was making his way back to his seat.
Mourinho even went on to say that Costa was lucky he didn’t get dropped sooner.
“Diego is very privileged because he was the last one to be on the bench,” Mourinho said. “Everyone else has been – the captain, Ivanovic, Cahill, the vice-captain of England, Fabregas, Pedro, Hazard, player of the season, Oscar. Everyone was on the bench.
“Diego was privileged because I kept him in the team for all these matches. Today we thought the best strategy was this one. We are happy with the decision and the players. If we had won 1-0, our performance would have been considered tremendous. You will still say it was good.”
With only three goals scored in 11 matches, Costa is still far from the level he was playing at last season when he scored 11 goals in the first 11 games. But so is the rest of the team. And if Chelsea is to recover in the Premier League, Costa will have to play his part, Mourinho liking it or not.
Saturday’s match against Bournemouth presents the perfect opportunity for the striker and the team to regain some momentum. Nonetheless, how it happens will depend on Mourinho’s decision.
