The Champions League has been put to bed for two months and, as the only club in the top five without a Carabao Cup fixture next week, Chelsea are well placed to take advantage before the tiring Christmas schedule takes hold.

Bournemouth are something of a bogey team, however. This fixture has seesawed between wins and defeats for the Blues over the past four seasons, most recently serving up a comfortable 2-0 success for us.

However, no team other than Liverpool have won at the Bridge more times than the Cherries since their elevation to the top flight in 2015. Curiously, there has never been a draw between the two clubs.

The South Coast visitors arrive in the midst of their worst run of league defeats since September 1994, when they lost seven on the spin. Frank Lampard will be eager to dispatch the team his uncle Harry Redknapp used to manage, not least because the Blues currently have a record of three defeats in four league outings to turn around.

Close-range shooting boots

The Chelsea head coach was again left ruing his side’s inefficiency on Tuesday, as a dominant display against Lille once more failed to produce the goals to kill the game.

His team have attempted the second-highest number of shots on goal in the Premier League this season (274, behind Man City’s 337). More instructive, perhaps, are the data showing the Blues rank 13th for efforts inside the six-yard box, and 17th for goals from that area. The situation is highlighted at Stamford Bridge, where just 35 per cent of the Londoners’ league goals have been scored, and only one from six yards or closer.

The nervous final 15 minutes made it easy to underestimate Chelsea’s achievement in qualifying from Group H above last season’s semi-finalists, Ajax, especially as it was the first encounter with elite level football for several of the group.

Equal top scorers for us in the group stage with two apiece were Tammy Abraham, Jorginho (both from the spot), and skipper Cesar Azpilicueta. Abraham has now scored in each of his past three appearances at the Bridge across all competitions. On Saturday he could emulate his coach’s feat in 2010 by scoring in a third consecutive home league game.

Premier League top scorers

Jamie Vardy 16Tammy Abraham 11Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 11Marcus Rashford 10Sergio Aguero 9Danny Ings 9Harry Kane 9Sadio Mane 9

The Blues welcomed Toni Rudiger back to the heart of defence against Lille and he may be asked to play for a second time in five days. After the setback at Goodison Park last weekend his partner on Tuesday, Kurt Zouma, revealed Lampard wanted more bravery from his side and better communication at the back.

Fortunately, despite misery on Merseyside, the Blues retain a five-point buffer above Manchester United and Wolves in fifth and sixth, and remain within striking distance of third-placed Manchester City.

FA Cup and Champions League catch-up

FA Cup visitors Nottingham Forest are at home to fellow promotion hopefuls Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday.

Ajax failed to qualify from Group H despite amassing 10 points – the same total European champions Chelsea finished third with in the 2012/13 group stage.

Fear of the drop

It was a while ago that Eddie Howe warned Bournemouth’s players and supporters they are in a relegation battle, and the 0-1 defeat to 10-man Crystal Palace served further notice.

In the top flight since 2015/16, when they finished 16th, the Cherries easily avoided the fated ‘second season syndrome’ relegation suffered by many, ending up ninth. There has been a downward trend since, with 12th place in 2017/18, and 14th last season. Howe’s men are currently sixth from bottom, but a single point above the relegation zone, with seven fewer than at the same stage in 2018/19.

The Dorset club have a reputation for being ‘streaky’, and their current run of five straight defeats is an echo of the same period two seasons ago, when they were winless over eight matches. The unbeaten seven-game run that followed eased Bournemouth away from danger and included a 3-0 win in this fixture.

The Cherries have managed fewer goals from open play (eight) than they have from set-pieces (10, including three direct free-kicks), and top scorer Harry Wilson will return after missing the 3-0 defeat by parent club Liverpool through ineligibility.

Still, Howe has a host of injuries with which to jostle, including former Blues defender Nathan Ake, whose premature departure last weekend was a turning point.

Sliding doors

As well as Ake, the Cherries have Chelsea Academy graduate Dominic Solanke in their ranks. But for the forks in life’s roads he might be lining up with his old strike partner for the hosts this weekend.

Both were born in autumn 1997 and were held in equally high esteem at Cobham. In May 2015, the pair finished with 41 goals each, and were partners in the victorious FA Youth Cup final team that also featured Fikayo Tomori.

Solanke had already made his senior debut in October 2014 and Abraham followed at the tail-end of the following season. After an injury-ravaged season-long loan at Vitesse Arnhem in 2015/16, though, Solanke elected not to stay with the Blues, moving first to Anfield in 2017, then the South Coast in January this year.

In contrast Abraham, who thrived on loan at Bristol City and Aston Villa, has started almost every match for Chelsea this season, netted 13 goals and set up a further five, and will now lead the Blues’ charge in the Champions League knockout rounds.

Winter break weekend still pending

The first Premier League winter break has been designed as a split of matches over two weekends in February (half 7-10 Feb, half 14-17 Feb), and each club was set to be told today which weekend it would have off.

As all seven English teams will be involved in UEFA knockout rounds during the same month, the announcement has sensibly been postponed until after Monday’s Champions League and Europa League draws.

It could be complicated: the eight Champions League Round of 16 first leg matches will be split between 18/19 and 25/26 February, while the first legs of the Europe League Round of 32 will all take place on Thursday 20 February.

Coming up

Next weekend’s hosts Tottenham, currently seventh, are away to Wolves (one place and one point above them) on Sunday. Spurs have failed to win 13 of their past 14 games on the road.

With a debut for Women’s Ballon d’Or winner Sam Kerr in the offing, watch out for live coverage of two Chelsea Women WSL games in January – 12.30pm on Sunday 5 January against Reading, and Arsenal away a fortnight later from 2pm.

Unbeaten in all competitions since April, Ed Brand’s Under-18s begin their FA Youth Cup campaign at Kingsmeadow on Wednesday 18 December with the visit of Huddersfield, beaten 6-1 in 2015 (including a Tammy Abraham hat-trick). Tickets are £3, £1 concessions. Click to buy online.

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Champions League draw details

For the first time ever the last 16 of the Champions League is comprised solely of clubs from Europe’s five richest leagues: England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain.

The draw for the first knockout round will take place in Nyon, Switzerland, on Monday from 11am. Chelsea cannot be matched with another Premier League club, nor Group H winners Valencia.

As group runners-up the Blues will be second seeds, meaning the first of the two legs will be at the Bridge in February, with the away tie the following month.

Everything you need to know about the Champions League draw

The squad can also be augmented before the competition resumes in February. Thanks to a tweak of regulations, players signed during the January window who have already figured for another team in the group stage are no longer cup-tied for the knockout rounds.

Of our potential opponents in the last 16, only Leipzig would be brand new adversaries for the Blues. Chelsea youngster Ethan Ampadu is currently plying his trade in Germany’s eighth-biggest metropolis, and would be eligible to play against his parent club as UEFA treat loans like permanent moves.

Bayern won all six group matches, while Juve and PSG each dropped only two points.

A new Plan for world football

Today’s match was selected for the launch of ‘Football for Change’, a joint Chelsea Foundation and Plan International scheme to buy and donate footballs to communities around the world and support their growth through the game.

Each match ticket sold today will mean £1 pledged to the project, and supporters can donate any spare change to the pot on the day. One hundred and one years ago the club implemented a similar, much-copied project to buy and send footballs to the front for soldiers before Christmas 1918.

Premier League fixtures

SaturdayLiverpool v Watford 12.30pm (BT)Burnley v Newcastle 3pmChelsea v Bournemouth 3pmLeicester v Norwich 3pmSheffield United v Aston Villa 3pmSouthampton v West Ham 5.30pm (Sky)

SundayManchester United v Everton 2pm (Sky)Wolves v Tottenham 2pmArsenal v Manchester City 4.30pm (Sky)

MondayCrystal Palace v Brighton 7.45pm (Sky)

Follow Frank Lampard's media conference today on The 5th Stand app