Marcos Alonso salvages a draw for Chelsea against Bournemouth

Marcos Alonso

Manchester City

Spanish full-back Marcos Alonso scored twice as Chelsea were made to work hard for a 2-2 draw at the Vitality Stadium in the Premier League on Saturday.

Alonso scored for the second consecutive league match when he broke the deadlock in the 33rd minute.

The hosts battled back with two goals in three second-half minutes from Jefferson Lerma and Josh King, but the former Real Madrid man netted again in the 85th minute to salvage a point.

The Cherries thus remain unbeaten in their last three meetings with the Blues. The Premier League giants have not won against Bournemouth since they met in the Carabao Cup fifth round in 2018.

The hosts failed to capitalise on an excellent start as Philip Billing missed two gilt-edged chances to score in the first five minutes.

While the former Huddersfield Town midfielder’s first effort was dealt by Willy Caballero after he connected with a Jack Stacey cross, he fired into the side netting the second time after putting Fikayo Tomori under pressure.

Caballero had to save again as to deny Callum Wilson, while at the other end, Chelsea finally began to show signs of life as Aaron Ramsdale had to be alert to a Mason Mount shot from the edge of the area.

The visitors, however, regained control after a wild start and started mounting pressure as they opened the scoring when Alonso fired home on the rebound after Olivier Giroud had flicked a Reece James cross on to the bar.

Giroud should have made it 2-0 soon after the start of the second half but he missed the target from point-blank range.

This miss proved costly as Lerma and King netted in the 54th and 57th minutes to help the hosts lead the game 2-1. While the former headed home a Ryan Fraser corner, the latter tapped in a Stacey cross.

The hosts would have sealed on a victory with a 3-1 margin if not for Caballero, who kept out Wilson’s half-volley soon after.

Alonso though came to the visitors’ rescue as he headed in a rebound after Ramsdale had parried a shot from Pedro. The Spaniard could have sealed it for the Blues in injury time but he headed wide a cross from Cesar Azpilicueta.

Interestingly, Chelsea have not picked up consecutive league wins since November and have also not kept a clean sheet in eight matches in all competitions.

Chelsea host Liverpool in the FA Cup on Tuesday and Everton at Stamford Bridge on Sunday while Bournemouth travel to Liverpool next Saturday.