“Many positives” from Aston Villa defeat can help Chelsea tonight says Enzo Maresca | OneFootball

Chelsea take on Bournemouth tonight in their final match of 2025, and there’s a lot riding on it in the circumstances.

Our form has fallen away of late and tensions behind the scenes are giving things a nasty edge. Failing to pick up 3 points tonight could lead to a nasty reaction from the Stamford Bridge crowd at full time given the way the game went on Saturday.

Maresca on “important” game against struggling Cherries

Enzo Maresca remonstrated with the referee. (Photo by Alex Grimm/Getty Images)

Speaking ahead of the game, our manager Enzo Maresca admitted that he knew the weight and importance of the match against the Cherries.

“It’s very important to finish the year in the best way. For sure, it will be another tough game because they are all tough in the Premier League, but we need to win games as soon as possible,” Maresca said in quotes picked up by the club’s official website.

Every game in the Premier League is tough, but compared to Newcastle away and in form Aston Villa at home, this should be more winnable. Bournemouth are of course a threat, but they’re in poor form of late, and given they’re coming to Stamford Bridge there should be no excuse not to win.

He even found some positives from the defeat to Villa on Saturday, pointing out our opposition created no xG in the first half. “We can take many positive things… they didn’t create anything,” he said proudly.

Fair enough, but what happened in the second half, Enzo?

In other news…

Our predicted team for tonight’s game is pretty tricky as Maresca has a lot of competing priorities for the game.

Chelsea were linked yesterday with bids for a Nottingham Forest player, but today’s update on the situation has made things a little more clear.