Starting with tonight's clash with the Cherries, three of our next four league outings take place under the Stamford Bridge floodlights.

All matches in this midweek round will be broadcast live on TNT Sports in the UK, and this one will host two of the most exciting chance-creating teams in the league. Chelsea and Bournemouth both fired five past lower-league FA Cup opponents on Saturday, with the Londoners securing a first clean-sheet victory since 1 December.

Andoni Iraola’s vibrant seventh-placed visitors are unbeaten in eight Premier League games, their best-ever run in the competition, but have not won away to any team above 13th place in the table. Nor have they taken three points in the capital since December 2023.

Enzo Maresca’s men dispatched Morecambe 5-0 on Saturday but have lost ground in the league after two losses and a pair of draws. We will hope to secure our first double of the season after September’s 1-0 Cherry harvest in Hampshire.

The Blues are unbeaten in the past six meetings with Bournemouth, winning four and drawing the other two.

Chelsea team news

Speaking in his pre-match press conference at Cobham, Enzo Maresca stated Reece James, Romeo Lavia and Noni Madueke are fit and available to face Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge this evening.

‘Yes, Reece and Romeo are okay [for Bournemouth], we are very happy for both,’ Maresca confirmed on Monday morning.

‘They played 45 minutes the other day [against Morecambe] and are available for the next game. They are available and, as we have said, we will try to manage both, because they are in a bit of a delicate situation.

‘Noni is back and he’s available after illness. He’s trained with us and he’s 100 per cent fit for Tuesday.’

The history

Between December 2015 – the maiden Premier League meeting between Chelsea and Bournemouth – and December 2019, this fixture favoured the visitors, who secured a trio of wins without conceding from those five games at the Bridge.

In December 2022, however, when both were on poor runs of form, Kai Havertz and Mason Mount put the Blues two ahead inside 25 minutes and secured us the first of back-to-back wins in our two home meetings since Bournemouth were promoted back to the Premier League.

In May 2024, Mauricio Pochettino’s last game in the home dugout at Stamford Bridge brought a sensational halfway-line strike from Moises Caicedo, before Raheem Sterling completed the 2-1 victory.

Iraola has not tasted victory against Chelsea in three attempts, and Christopher Nkunku’s lone goal was enough to secure the points at the Vitality Stadium in September, a fixture that also saw Robert Sanchez save Evanilson’s spot-kick and referee Anthony Taylor brandish a record 14 yellow cards.

Know this...

Chelsea have beaten Bournemouth on 63 per cent of their league visits to Stamford Bridge, our fourth-highest win rate against current top-flight clubs, behind Brighton & Hove Albion (70 per cent), Ipswich Town (68 per cent) and Leicester City (65 per cent).

Chelsea (78.7 per cent) and Bournemouth (77.1 per cent) occupy the top two places for saves per shot on target in the Premier League this season.

The Londoners have conceded one goal or more after the 80th minute in four of our past six league matches.

Only Wolverhampton Wanderers (six) have had more penalties given against them than Chelsea (five) in the Premier League this season – and no team has been awarded more spot-kicks than Bournemouth (six, five of which have been won by Evanilson).

From the start of January to mid-February, Arsenal will play 12 matches across all competitions, Liverpool 11, Manchester City, Newcastle United and Aston Villa nine. Chelsea, Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest will handle seven.