Bournemouth and Chelsea continued their disappointing start to the Premier League season with the first goalless draw of the season.
Under Andoni Iraola, the Cherries have yet to win a league game, while Mauricio Pochettino’s Chelsea have one win from five league games.
Chelsea had the better chances, with Nicolas Jackson and Raheem Sterling hitting the crossbar and Levi Colwill having a goal ruled out for offside.
The Blues make a new signing. Late in the game, Cole Palmer had an opportunity to win the game, but he fired straight at Neto.
Bournemouth had chances to win as well, with Dominic Solanke forcing a stop from Robert Sanchez and heading wide.
In a game where both sides lacked confidence and defences were on top, the last ball was weak and strikers misfired.
Chelsea had six substitutes with no Premier League experience and academy product Conor Gallagher wearing the captain’s armband despite their pricey, extensive acquisitions.
Moises Caicedo, the Blues’ £100 million midfielder, missed out due to a knee injury sustained while on international duty with Ecuador.
Mykhailo Mudryk, making his first Premier League start under Pochettino, set up Jackson, who struck the base of the post from the edge of the box.
Raheem Sterling was not as explosive as he had been in previous weeks, with none of his four efforts threatening the keeper.
When Captain Gallagher wriggled free from 10 yards out, his shot was too central, and Neto came down low to save.
Sterling’s free-kick touched the angle of the post and bar and bounced on the line without fully crossing it, which was probably their best moment of the game. The ball was played to Colwill, who shot home, but the Blues defender was offside when the free-kick was delivered, therefore his effort was ruled out.
Jackson almost won it late on, but his header from replacement Ben Chilwell’s cross lacked direction, and Neto stopped it.
The Blues’ results will improve if they improve their finishing, although they are now 14th.
“I cannot lie; I think we are missing something in the last third—more calm, more relaxed, to be more clinical in front of goal,” Blues manager Pochettino remarked.
“It’s about having faith and trust in your offensive players.” I believe we were generating opportunities and fighting, and I believe it was all about the process.”
Last season, Gary O’Neil helped Bournemouth stay up, but he was replaced this summer by the highly regarded Iraola as the Cherries set their ambitions higher than merely survival.
But Iraola is only the second Spanish manager in Premier League history to go winless in his first five games, following Pepe Mel at West Brom in 2014.
Bournemouth have not won any of their first five league games since the 2008-09 season, when they were in League Two.
Like Chelsea, they could have won this game with better finishing.
Robert Sanchez denied Dango Ouattara from close range, while the keeper also denied Marcus Tavernier, who was starting for the first time this season after an injury.
While Sanchez blocked Lewis Cook’s snap shot, Tavernier cut in from the right and fired a shot wide.
Solanke had four chances in the final 11 minutes, one of which was saved after he nutmegged a defender in the box.
“I’m really happy with the performance,” Iraola stated. “The game was fairly easy.
“I’d say today was our best game overall.” We still didn’t score, but we were on the verge of defeating a really talented side like Chelsea.
