Chelsea vs. AFC Bournemouth 12/27/22 EPL Soccer Picks, Predictions, Odds

Chelsea and AFC Bournemouth face off on Tuesday in an English Premier League showdown at Stamford Bridge. When these two teams faced off in 2020 the game ended in a 2-2 draw. 

Chelsea comes into this game sitting in 8th place in the standings having picked up 21 points. Chelsea played one warm-up after the World Cup against Aston Villa, and they didn’t look very good. Aston Villa scored against the Chelsea defense in the 7th minute and the offense couldn’t make up for it. They had 51 percent of the possession and three shots on target. Armando Broja suffered a torn ACL in that game against Aston Villa, and that is another terrible loss for this team. Hakim Ziyech and Mateo Kovacic are still working their way back from the World Cup and won’t be available for selection for this game. N’Golo Kante and Ben Chilwell are both still hurt and out for this game. 

On the other side of this matchup is AFC Bournemouth, who sits in 14th place in the standings having picked up 16 points. Last Tuesday, AFC Bournemouth faced off against Newcastle, and they were defeated 1-0 in that game. It was an own goal that was the difference and knocked them out of the EFL Cup. A nasty virus is going through the team and that could knock out some key players for this game. Ben Pearson, Joe Rothwell, and Ryan Fredericks are all dealing with the virus, and it’s unclear if they are going to be able to go in this game. David Brooks is dealing with an injury, and they are going to be able to be out for at least a couple of weeks.

This Chelsea team is dealing with a ton of injuries and AFC Bournemouth is still is dealing with the virus. With all the players out, I expect both teams are going to really struggle to have quality scoring chances, and that will be the difference here as this game goes over the total. Back the over to cash.