Lack of energy key to Bournemouth's downward spiral, says Iraola

Andoni Iraola believes Bournemouth's slide down the Premier League table has been down to a lack of energy from players absent from his squad. 

Iraola watched on as his team were beaten by Everton 1-0 at Vitality Stadium on Tuesday, with Jack Grealish's deflected goal in the 78th minute doing the damage. 

Bournemouth were without suspended trio Lewis Cook, Marcos Senesi and David Brooks for that defeat, while Ben Gannon Doak and Ryan Christie are both out injured. 

And after making a promising start to their season, the Cherries now sit 14th in the table ahead of welcoming fourth-placed Chelsea to the south coast this weekend.

"A lot of reasons. The other day, we lost a game that we had a lot in our favour, and we also lost five very important players to us," Iraola said of Bournemouth's recent form.

"In the middle, we lacked energy, Christie, Cook, we missed players that give us that energy. 

"I think we will recover some of the players, but we still have not recovered some players with the five yellow cards, so we will have to think of other players to give us energy.

"[Everton] has been a bad result, but we have to stay together, analyse, and we have to use this loss to try to do a reset and think properly about things we need to do better."

Chelsea, meanwhile, saw their Premier League title charge derailed by Leeds United, who downed the Blues 3-1 in front of a raucous Elland Road crowd on Wednesday. 

Jaka Bijol and Ao Tanaka scored in the first half, and though Pedro Neto's goal after the break threatened a comeback, Dominic Calvert-Lewin sealed the win late on. 

Enzo Maresca opted to hand talented teenager Estevao just his sixth Premier League start after a string of impressive performances, most notably in the Blues' Champions League triumph over Barcelona. 

However, the Brazilian struggled in the hostile environment and was brandished a yellow card six minutes before half-time for a poorly timed challenge on Gabriel Gudmundsson. 

Estevao was replaced at the break by Neto, and when asked if the change was to protect him from a red card, Maresca said: "I think the feeling with Estevao was a little bit: 'Welcome to the Premier League, welcome to Leeds'.

"The impact on him was probably huge. The reason we changed him was because he already had a yellow card.

"Sometimes, when you are 18, you struggle to manage your emotions, so it was better to change him and avoid any red cards."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Bournemouth – Antoine Semenyo

It is no coincidence that Bournemouth's downturn in results has coincided with Antoine Semenyo's drop-off in form after a fine start to the campaign. 

The Cherries' talisman has now failed to score or assist a goal in any of his last six top-flight appearances. 

After the first seven match rounds this season, he was second only to Manchester City's Erling Haaland (10) for goal involvements (nine – six goals, three assists).

Chelsea – Pedro Neto

No Chelsea player has either scored (five) or been involved in (seven) more Premier League goals than Pedro Neto this season.

The Portuguese has also been involved in six goals in his last seven appearances in the competition (four goals, two assists), and he will be keen to make an impression here. 

MATCH PREDICTION: CHELSEA WIN

Chelsea have lost just one of their eight Premier League away games against Bournemouth (W5 D2), going down 4-0 in January 2019 under Maurizio Sarri.

But despite being favoured by the Opta supercomputer, Chelsea have lost both of their Premier League games kicking off at 3pm on a Saturday this season. The Blues have not lost three in a row in this kick-off slot since November 2000 (vs Southampton, Charlton and Everton).

Maresca's side are, however, on the longest current scoring streak of any side in the Premier League, netting in all 13 of their games since a goalless draw with Crystal Palace on the opening weekend of 2025-26. 

Bournemouth, meanwhile, have lost four of their last five Premier League games (D1), more than they had in their previous 17 (W8 D6 L3).

The Cherries are also winless in their last seven top-flight games against Chelsea (D3 L4), having won three of their previous four against the Blues (L1).

But Iraola's team have often been solid defensively at Vitality Stadium. Indeed, only Arsenal have conceded fewer home goals than Bournemouth (five) in the Premier League this season, though the Cherries suffered their first home defeat of the season against Everton last time out.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Bournemouth – 32.5%

Draw – 25.5%

Chelsea – 42%