Marcos Alonso Salvages a Draw for Chelsea vs. Bournemouth in Premier League

Marcos Alonso scored twice for Chelsea on Saturday in the Premier League, but they were held to a 2-2 draw by Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium. 

Alonso scored for the second league match running when he broke the deadlock in the 33rd minute.

Bournemouth battled back with two goals in three second-half minutes from Jefferson Lerma and Josh King, but Alonso netted again in the 85th minute to salvage a point.

The Cherries are unbeaten in their last three meetings with Chelsea. The Blues have not won against Bournemouth since they met in the Carabao Cup fifth round in 2018.

Bournemouth failed to capitalise on an excellent start, in which Philip Billing had two gilt-edged chances to score in the first five minutes.

The Dane's first effort was saved by Willy Caballero after he connected with a Jack Stacey cross, while the second he fired into the side netting after putting Fikayo Tomori under pressure.

Caballero made another save soon after to deny Callum Wilson, while at the other end, Chelsea finally began to show signs of life as Aaron Ramsdale had to be alert to a Mason Mount shot from the edge of the area.

The hosts managed to regain control after a frenetic start, and after mounting pressure, they opened the scoring when Alonso fired home on the rebound after Olivier Giroud had flicked a Reece James cross on to the bar.

Football writer Seb Stafford-Bloor gave his take on proceedings at the break:

Giroud should have made it 2-0 soon after the restart, but he contrived to miss the target from point-blank range.

The miss proved costly as Lerma and King netted in the 54th and 57th minutes. The former headed home a Ryan Fraser corner before the latter tapped in a Stacey cross.

Goal's Nizaar Kinsella put Bournemouth's comeback in perspective:

It would have been 3-1 if not for Caballero, who kept out Wilson's half-volley soon after.

Alonso came to the hosts' rescue, though, when he headed in a rebound after Ramsdale had parried a shot from Pedro.

The Spaniard had the chance to win it for the Blues in injury time when he met a cross from Cesar Azpilicueta, but he headed wide.

Chelsea have not picked up consecutive league wins since November or kept a clean sheet in eight matches in all competitions.

What's Next

Bournemouth travel to Liverpool next Saturday while Chelsea welcome Everton to Stamford Bridge the following day, after hosting the Reds in the FA Cup on Tuesday.