Chelsea’s 2-2 home draw against Bournemouth extended their winless run in the Premier League to five games, a situation which Blues gaffer Enzo Maresca believes is worrisome.
Maresca’s charged seemed to be in pole position to put their slump to an end with an effective first-half display as Cole Palmer netted his 14th goal of the league campaign with a cool finish at Stamford Bridge.
However, their visitors bounced back after the interval as Justin Kluivert levelled matters from the penalty spot and Antoine Semenyo put them ahead in the contest with an emphatic finish.
Skipper Recce James stepped off the bench to rescue a point with a brilliant finish — although Chelsea could now drop out of the top four if in-form Newcastle beat Wolves on Wednesday.
“I think we deserved much more, especially in the first half,” Maresca said.
“The negative thing is that we changed how we played after conceding. We dropped back.
“The game was completely in our control and it’s something we need to improve.
“I have concerns always, even when we are winning matches. This is the Premier League, when you don’t create chances and don’t score then you have to be more concerned.”
James has suffered yet another injury-plagued season which has restricted the Englishman to just four starts in all competitions.But he enjoyed a moment to savour in stoppage time after a long time on the sidelines.
“There was a period where I was scoring quite frequently and I haven’t had that feeling for quite a long time,” said James.
However, he echoed Maresca’s sentiments on Chelsea needing to be more ruthless to him their aim of a return to Champions League football next season.
“I think we had a few clear-cut chances that we should have taken in the first half and put the game to bed.
“It’s across football globally, if you have chances and you don’t take them then it can come back and hurt you.”
