Chelsea and Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge

COMMENTARY

Chelsea's home games with Bournemouth tend to be see-saw affairs. Chelsea has alternated between defeat and victory in their four Premier League meetings here so far - only Liverpool has beaten Chelsea more at home than Bournemouth since they were promoted in 2015. However, Eddie Howe's men have lost all of their last six Premier League games in London. Will Bournemouth's poor run on the road continue?

There's only one chance to the Chelsea team that defeated Lille 2-1 here midweek. Mount comes in for Kovacic as Frank Lampard reverts his side to a4-2-3-1. Bournemouth's injury crisis continues after they lost Nathan Ake and Callum Wilson to injury in their 3-0 defeat to Liverpool last week. They make four changes as they move to a 4-5-1 formation. Stacey, Gosling, Cook, and King step in.

SUBS: Jack Simpson, Dominic Solanke, Andrew Surman, Junior Stanislas, Mihai-Alexandru Dobre, Artur Boruc, Gavin Kilkenny.

BOURNEMOUTH (4-5-1): Aaron Ramsdale; Jack Stacey, Simon Francis (c), Chris Mepham, Diego Rico; Dan Gosling, Lewis Cook, Jefferson Lerma, Philip Billing, Ryan Fraser; Joshua King.

SUBS: Michy Batshuayi, Willy Caballero, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Mateo Kovacic, Reece James, Pedro, Andreas Christensen.

CHELSEA (4-2-3-1): Kepa Arrizabalaga; Cesar Azpilicueta (c), Antonio Rudiger, Kurt Zouma, Emerson; N'Golo Kante, Jorginho; Willian, Mason Mount, Christian Pulisic; Tammy Abraham.

Thankfully for Chelsea, their visitors here are Bournemouth whose form has plummeted in the past few weeks. They've suffered five league defeats in a row now and risk getting sucked into a relegation dogfight. Can Chelsea capitalize on the plight of their usually tricky opponents?

Fresh from their Champions League progress midweek, Chelsea can now focus on their wobbly domestic form over the Christmas period. The Blues are still 4th in the table but have lost three of their last five league games. They don't want to have started looking over their shoulders at the improving teams below them.