Written by The Editor
28 May 2024
Chelsea 2 Bournemouth 1
This is it! The finale of another exhausting season under the stewardship of the Blueco 22 Limited holding company, also known as Chelsea FC.
After enduring all the trials and tribulations of the 23/24 Season, most Chelsea fans will be relieved it’s coming to an end. With four wins on the bounce coming into the game and some sort of European competition all but confirmed, barring a loss to the opponents from the south coast.
Bournemouth have secured their best ever Premier League finish and are playing the game out of pride. Out of the last six Premier League duels, both teams have emerged victorious three times. The Cherries went into the game with their top scorer, ex-Chelsea player Solanke, on the bench due to a prior illness.
The sunny May day had a very end-of-season character to it, with Chelsea having the better opportunities. None more so than in the 17th minute when Caicedo met an uncontrolled keeper clearance from Neto (under pressure from a Gallagher challenge) from just inside the halfway line, which curved and looped into an empty net. It was the Ecuadorian’s first goal for the club and highly deserved.
The scoreline remained the same into the second half where Sterling managed to double the lead. Bournemouth were always looking intent on scoring themselves, and this happened within just one minute as Unal’s effort was deflected past Petrovic by Badiashile.
Iraola’s side stepped up a gear but created little until in the closing minutes Petrovic managed to parry away a shot (with Gallagher involved marvellously in the thick of things) to Solanke who, thankfully, managed to scuff the ball over the bar. This would have been his 20th strike of the season.
Chelsea managed to hang on. Now, hopefully, Manchester City will beat Manchester United in the FA Cup final on Saturday, 25 May, meaning qualification into the Europa League, otherwise the Europa Conference League.
Emotional scenes followed the game as Silva and family, including both sons who play for Chelsea themselves, were given a guard of honour before giving a farewell speech to the adoring Bridge faithful. Remarkably, but deservedly, there was hardly an empty seat in the ground to be seen.
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