Chelsea club captain Reece James marked his Premier League return from injury with a stoppage-time equaliser to salvage a draw against Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge.
The full-back has missed large chunks of the season because of hamstring problems, but he was all smiles after striking a low free-kick through a crowd of players and into the right corner in the fifth additional minute.
Cole Palmer had opened the scoring for Chelsea in the 13th minute when he calmly found the net after wrong-footing Bournemouth keeper Mark Travers with a faked shot.
Despite Chelsea dominating the first half, the Cherries were gifted a way back into the match after the interval when Moises Caicedo got on the wrong side of Antoine Semenyo and fouled the Bournemouth forward in the penalty area.
Justin Kluivert made no mistake from the spot, beating Robert Sanchez to net his sixth penalty of the season.
The relieved visitors then took the lead in the 68th minute through Semenyo’s fierce left-footed strike which flashed past Sanchez and went in off the left post, and they looked set for an excellent away win.
That’s now nine unbeaten in the @premierleague 📈 pic.twitter.com/8rERYmWj7S
— AFC Bournemouth 🍒 (@afcbournemouth) January 14, 2025
Yet Chelsea kept going and hit back with time running out when James made his telling intervention.
Chelsea remain fourth in the Premier League table, 10 points behind leaders Liverpool. Bournemouth stay seventh, three points behind the Blues.
