Soccer Football - Premier League - Chelsea v AFC Bournemouth - Stamford Bridge, London, Britain - January 14, 2025 Chelsea's Reece James scores their second goal past AFC Bournemouth's Mark Travers from a free kick REUTERS/Isabel Infantes
LONDON (Reuters) -Chelsea captain Reece James rescued a point for his side with a 95th-minute free kick to snatch a 2-2 draw at home to Bournemouth in the Premier League on Tuesday.
Second-half substitute James, playing his first league game since November because of injury, beat goalkeeper Mark Travers with a perfectly placed curler into the far corner of the net.
But it was two points dropped for the hosts who dominated much of the game, scoring through Cole Palmer in the first half before Bournemouth replied with a Justin Kluivert penalty early in the second period and Antoine Semenyo put them ahead.
Chelsea, who have failed to win in their last five league games, stay in fourth place in the table on 37 points from 21 matches, with Bournemouth seventh on 34.
"I think we had a few clear-cut chances that we should have taken in the first half and put the game to bed," James told TNT Sport. "It's mixed emotions."
Palmer scored his 14th league goal this season after receiving a neatly weighted ball from Nicolas Jackson who had squirmed free of three midfielders on the halfway line.
Chelsea talisman Palmer then sent Travers to the floor with a little dummy and rolled the ball into his net.
The hosts had several first-half chances to double their lead, through Jackson, Palmer and Enzo Fernandez.
But they let the visitors back into the game three minutes into the second half when Moises Caicedo brought down Semenyo and Kluivert sent Robert Sanchez the wrong way from the spot.
CONTROVERSIAL MOMENT
There was a moment of controversy when referee Robert Jones was called to the monitor to decide whether David Brooks should be sent off for pulling Marc Cucurella's hair, but he showed a yellow card prompting howls of protest from the home fans.
The Stamford Bridge faithful were then stunned into silence in the 67th minute when Semenyo rounded 18-year-old defender Josh Acheampong and sent a near-post rocket past Sanchez.
Travers kept Bournemouth ahead, blocking shots from Jackson who was busy all night but could not get the ball past the goalkeeper and the visitors looked dangerous on the break.
Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca said his side deserved more, especially from the first half which he described as one of their best of the season.
"The negative thing is that we changed how we played after conceding. We dropped back," he said.
"The most important thing is to create chances. It happened many times in the last four or five games. We don't score and then we concede. Tonight after we concede the penalty, we drop a bit and we need to improve on that."
James, a product of the Chelsea academy who has been plagued by injury all season, roared in celebration and relief when his free kick hit the net with three more added minutes to play.
"I knew it was a good distance and that side of the goal was open. There was a period where I was scoring quite frequently and I haven't had that feeling for quite a long time," he said.
(Reporting by Clare Lovell; Editing by Ken Ferris and Toby Davis)
