May 6th, 2023, the crowd at Vitality Stadium finally witnessed Chelsea end their 9 match winless streak as they sealed a crucial victory over AFC Bournemouth to move up the ranks. The 3-1 victory was Chelsea’s first win under interim manager Frank Lampard in the Premier League. After both teams were tied 1-1 in the first half, late goals from Benoit Badiashile and Joao Felix moments before the closing of the game helped Chelsea clinch the win .
The match seemed evenly matched during the first half when Bournemouth had two opportunities to take the lead in the first five minutes. However, none of them could be converted as the Chelsea defence stood firm. It was ultimately Chelsea’s midfielder Conor Gallagher who scored with a well-timed header to give the visitors the lead in the 9th minute.
After the opening goal from Gallagher, Bournemouth did manage to bounce back in the game with the equalizer in the 21st minutes by Matias Vina. The action further went to-and-fro throughout the remainder of the first half as both teams tried their best to take the lead before the half would end. However, that did not happen as both teams ended the first half with one goal each.
Before Benoit Badiashile and Joao Felix finally broke the tie in the second half, the Blues struggled to break down Bournemouth’s defence. Chelsea took advantage of Bournemouth’s inability to score from set pieces late in the second half when Hakim Ziyech sent the ball from a free kick to the far post, where Benoit Badiashile beat keeper Neto to score Chelsea’s second goal and his first for the team in the 82nd minute of play.
It was not long enough that Chelsea tripled their lead over the opponent just 4 minutes later as Joao Felix scored the third and final goal for his side to take Chelsea 3-1 ahead in the score card in the 86th minute. It was a sublime right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner following a fine assist by Raheem Sterling.
With 5 more minutes added as extra time, Chelsea came close to making it a 4-1 win at 90+2 minutes when César Azpilicueta missed a fiery left footed shot from outside the box that went high and wide to the left.
In the end, Chelsea silenced Bournemouth with a 3-1 victory. Gallagher (9′), Badiashile (82′), and Felix (86′) each scored three goals for Chelsea. This triumph was sufficient to move Chelsea, also known as “The Blues,” up to position 11 in the 2022–2023 Premier League standings. With 42 points now in their possession, the Blues are still three points behind Fulham in 10th position.
