Chelsea must now be longing for a swift return to Stamford Bridge in Premier League action.

Indeed, the Blues’ push towards the top of the table to challenge Arsenal has stalled after two disappointing performances on the road, with a 3-1 collapse away at Leeds United, followed up by a lacklustre showing on the South Coast to secure a 0-0 draw at AFC Bournemouth.

Not even Cole Palmer’s re-entry into Enzo Maresca’s starting XI could shake Chelsea into life away at the Cherries, as the former Manchester City superstar ended up losing possession a costly 16 times in a drab individual performance.

He was far from being the only underperformer in attack up against Andoni Iraola’s hosts, though, as Chelsea now looks at the January transfer window with hope that they can boost their underwhelming options up top.

Chelsea's attacking woes vs Bournemouth

Liam Delap must have thought that grabbing a much-needed Blues goal against Barcelona at the tail-end of November would kickstart his faltering Stamford Bridge spell.

Unfortunately, though, the former Ipswich Town striker remains without a goal in Premier League action for Maresca’s men, as the £30m summer recruit hobbled off after just 32 minutes to continue on his ongoing Chelsea nightmare.

Neither Marc Guiu nor Joao Pedro could break the deadlock either against a stubborn Cherries defence, with Guiu only managing an unconvincing two shots at the Bournemouth goal from his minimal 25 touches.

Pedro will also have Chelsea punching the panic button at this point, with the bumper £60m signing now goalless across his last four games for Maresca and Co.

It’s not the greatest shock in the world, therefore, to read that the frustrated West Londoners are targeting a move for Borussia Dortmund ace Serhou Guirassy in January, with Sky Sports’ Gary Neville weighing in after the Blues’ disastrous 3-1 loss at Elland Road to say that the attackers Chelsea currently possess are not “of the level” to lift the Premier League title.

However, it’s not just in the sole striker spot where grumbles are beginning to emerge, with other pitiful performances on the South Coast giving Maresca plenty of food for thought over what his consistent starting lineup should be.

Chelsea duo must never start together again

The former Leicester City boss would lament his side’s indecisive nature in the forward areas at the full-time whistle, with Pedro Neto and Alejandro Garnacho very much not helping proceedings as Chelsea’s main options down either flank.

Between them during the 0-0 stalemate, they only completed one of six dribbles, with plenty more unsatisfactory numbers tallied up by the frustrating pairing come the close of the dull affair.

Looking at the table above in detail, it really doesn’t make for pretty reading for the number seven and the number 49, with possession given up a high 22 times between them, on top of just one of their combined efforts being hit on target at Dorde Petrovic’s goal.

If Chelsea is to instantly respond to this shambolic performance at the Cherries against Atalanta in the Champions League, Maresca will surely have to ditch this duo, with Estevao hopeful of a starting spot in place of Neto on the right, after scoring a stunning effort last time out in Europe’s premier competition versus Barcelona.

His constant determination to burst forward with pace and terrorise defenders would be a clear departure from the out-of-sorts offerings from both Neto and Garnacho, with five goals and one assist already tallied up in Chelsea blue by the Brazilian, seeing pundit Pat Nevin hail him as an “utterly brilliant” asset to have around.

Neto does have credit in his bank, arguably, considering he bagged his side’s only goal of the game in West Yorkshire, but an injection of freshness could still go down a treat.

This might also result in Jamie Gittens getting the nod to start on the left over Garnacho, after successfully completing all 100% of his dribbles versus Leeds as a rare bright spark.

Whatever lineup does end up taking to the field, Maresca will be hoping for an immediate response.

If he wants more energy and excitement from the get-go mid-week, he needs to ensure both Neto and Garnacho don’t start together again, after they passively went about their business at Bournemouth.

Worse than Enzo: Maresca must drop Chelsea star who lost the ball 17x

This Chelsea ace struggled in the 0-0 draw away to Bournemouth

By
Joe Nuttall

5 days ago

Tottenham Hotspur have identified a “fantastic” forward as their top target ahead of the January transfer window, with Thomas Frank personally an admirer.

Spurs keen on strengthening attack in January

Tottenham brought their five-game winless run to an end on Saturday afternoon, with Frank getting one over his former club by securing a 2-0 win against Brentford, and the manager was happy with his side’s performance on the front foot.

The Dane said: “I think it was a very good performance overall. A quite complete performance. Offensively we looked a big threat going forward. We were much more dynamic and producing good chances and good moments. I really like that.”

That said, it is still too early to suggest Spurs have turned a corner, considering just how poor they have looked going forward at times this season, recording an xG of just 0.1 in the home defeat against Chelsea at the beginning of last month.

Some of Frank’s summer additions have also struggled, including Randal Kolo Muani, who received a SofaScore match rating of just 6.1 against Brentford, the lowest of any Tottenham player, and the Frenchman is still searching for his first Premier League goal.

As such, the north Londoners may look to bring in some more attacking firepower in the upcoming transfer window, and a report from TEAMtalk has now revealed that AFC Bournemouth star Antoine Semenyo has been identified as their top target.

Semenyo, who has a £65m release clause in his contract, is being targeted by a whole host of Premier League clubs, with Manchester United and Manchester City also keen, so Spurs may have to fend off interest from elsewhere to get a deal over the line.

At this point, it is unclear who the Ghanaian would prefer to sign for, but national team manager Otto Addo has suggested he needs to take the ‘next step’ in his career soon.

Related Tottenham readying January move for "amazing" £44m striker praised by Frank

Spurs are lining up a move for a new centre-forward.

Posts 1 ByDominic Lund 5 days ago "Fantastic" Semenyo lauded by Frank

The Bournemouth star has been catching the eye in the Premier League for quite some time now, with Frank saying last season: “Semenyo can play wherever he wants to play – he’s a fantastic player. I think he’s been the best individual player for Bournemouth this season.”

The 25-year-old then went on to make a flying start to the current campaign, although he hasn’t been at his best of late, having failed to register a goal or an assist in his last six outings in the Premier League.

That said, the former Bristol City man is still on course to record a better combined goal and assist tally than last season, having displayed year-on-year improvement since first becoming a key player in the 2023-24 campaign.

Season

Premier League appearances

Goal contributions

2023-24

33

11

2024-25

37

17

2025-26

14

9

Semenyo has proven that he is now ready to make the move to a bigger club, and Tottenham should trigger the £65m release clause when the January transfer window opens, in light of their attacking woes.

Desert Vipers gained from their tactical decision to retire Max Holden out, going on to win the contest by one run

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Dec-2025

Desert Vipers won a one-run thriller over MI Emirates in the ILT20 on Tuesday night, and fun as the game itself was, nothing beat what transpired in the 16th over of the first innings, which involved a declined stumping and a retired out, off successive balls, involving Nicholas Pooran and Max Holden.Batting first after losing the toss in Abu Dhabi, Vipers had started the 16th over on 110 for 1. Max Holden and Sam Curran were in the middle, but were going nowhere. The four preceding overs had netted exactly 20 runs, and Shimron Hetmyer and Dan Lawrence were in the shed.Vipers needed a move on, and Englishman Holden, their top-scorer in the innings, was on strike from the third ball after Curran had hit a four and taken a single off Rashid Khan. But no runs came off the third and fourth balls, and MI Emirates lost a review off the last of those when Pooran felt Holden had nicked the ball but the ball had only come to him off the pads. The fifth ball went for two.Then the drama began.Rashid to Holden. Holden charges down the track and goes for maximum, but misses the line completely as Rashid keeps it wide. He is so far down the pitch that he doesn’t even attempt to get back. Pooran has the ball, but isn’t interested in effecting the stumping. Holden realises what Pooran is up to and returns to ground his bat.