Most yellow cards in an EPL game, Sancho stars on CFC debut & more- Analysis from AFCB v Chelsea 2024

Chelsea’s first game after the international break saw them edge Bournemouth 1-0 at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday night. Christopher Nkunku scored a late winner for the Blues on the South Coast. Here are our talking points from the fixture.

Referee Anthony Taylor sets Premier League record for most yellow cards in a match

In terms of quality of football, this game wasn’t the greatest, but it will go down in the history books as the fixture with the most YC’s in Premier League history. Anthony Taylor issued a total of 14 yellow cards (six to Bournemouth, eight to Chelsea).

The bookings started in the 18th minute, with the first yellow card in this Bournemouth v Chelsea game going to Ryan Christie, and the last one to Semenyo in second-half stoppage time.

Players booked for Bournemouth: Smith, Senesi, Christie, Cook, Tavernier, Semenyo
Chelsea yellow cards v AFCB: Sanchez, Cucurella, Fofana, Colwill, Veiga, Jackson, Felix, Madueke

Anthony Taylor yellow cards 14 Chelsea Bournemouth

Sancho stars on Chelsea league debut

There were plenty of Chelsea fans with reservations when the Blues announced Jadon Sancho’s signing towards the end of the transfer window- another winger in a squad that has plenty of options in that position. The former Dortmund star made his CFC debut here as a half-time substitute for Pedro Neto and was a constant threat down the left flank after the interval.

He gave both Adam Smith and Julian Araujo a real working over, and most importantly, assisted Nkunku for the match winner.

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Shearer, Merson, Lawro predictions for Bournemouth vs Chelsea- “Hardest game to call” in GW4

Chelsea’s first game after the international break sees them travel to the South Coast to take on Bournemouth this weekend- a late kickoff on Saturday night at the Vitality Stadium. CFC will be wearing their 24/25 away kit against AFCB- the “guava ice” shirt from Nike.

Here is what the pundits have predicted for this clash, which will be refereed by Anthony Taylor, who was also in charge of Chelsea’s opening round defeat to Manchester City last month.

Paul Merson

Merson has called this the “hardest game” to predict this weekend. Says Chelsea “lack consistency” and they could win “3-0, 4-0” but “they could also lose”.

Has gone for a 1-1 draw.

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Video Solanke vs Raya Foul? Semenyo disallowed goal vs Arsenal 2024 VAR Incident

Solanke vs Raya Foul Incident VAR

This Semenyo disallowed goal against Arsenal (VIDEO BELOW) was a controversial moment from Bournemouth’s loss to the Gunners. Trailing 2-0 at that stage, Bournemouth got the ball into the back of the net through Antoine Semenyo but VAR and on-field referee David Coote felt that the Solanke Raya incident was a foul on the Arsenal goalkeeper from the Bournemouth forward, and disallowed the goal.

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