Tuchel defends England over Alex Scott injury as Chelsea host winless Bournemouth

Chelsea will look to arrest a three-game winless slide when they resume their Premier League campaign at home to Bournemouth on Saturday, with England head coach Thomas Tuchel forced to defend his side's handling of the injury suffered by Bournemouth midfielder Alex Scott.

Xabi Alonso's side won their first two league games under the Spaniard, but head into the weekend 10th in the table after a draw and two defeats — the latest a 3-0 defeat by Brentford last time out. Bournemouth, 17th with three points, have fared no better, failing to win any of their first five matches under Marco Rose.

Scott out for up to eight weeks as England dispute simmers

Alonso said before the international break that he hoped Joao Pedro would recover from injury in time to face the Cherries, but Bournemouth have selection issues of their own.

Midfielder Scott is expected to miss between six and eight weeks after sustaining a quadriceps tendon injury on his England debut, having played 70 minutes of the Three Lions' 7-0 rout of Croatia last Saturday. Bournemouth are reportedly unhappy with England's handling of the midfielder's condition, but Tuchel insisted earlier this week that there was no wrongdoing on their part.

"With Alex, it's a strange one, I'm very sad about it," Tuchel said. "He trained in full before Croatia, he did extra work after the training sessions. We knew he was having treatment, but there were only green lights from him and the medics."

"When we were aware there was slight discomfort during the match and asked if he wanted to come off, he said no," Tuchel added. "After the match, he said he could have played 90 minutes and didn't feel an injury. It's a strange one. There was zero risk taken from our side."

Goals appear guaranteed

Whatever the team news, entertainment looks likely when these two meet. Chelsea's five league games under Alonso have produced 22 goals in total — 10 for and 12 against — while the Spaniard's six managerial meetings with Rose have averaged 3.8 goals per game (12 for, 11 against).

Should Saturday's contest become stretched, Bournemouth's Rayan could provide a major threat — the Brazil international scored just his second goal for his country during the international break, against Australia.

Chelsea's defensive record is the obvious concern for the hosts. They have conceded the most goals in the Premier League this season (12) and could become only the third team ever to concede multiple goals in each of their opening six matches of a campaign, after Everton in 1994-95 and Derby County in 2000-01.

Head-to-head

Chelsea are unbeaten in their last nine Premier League games against Bournemouth (W4 D5), although each of the last three meetings has ended all square. Three of Bournemouth's four Premier League wins over Chelsea have come away from home — and those three victories remain the Cherries' only clean sheets at Stamford Bridge.

For the visitors, this season marks only the second time Bournemouth have opened a Premier League campaign with five winless matches, having also drawn three and lost two at the start of 2023-24. Rose is the second manager to fail to win his first five top-flight matches in charge of the club — the other was his predecessor Andoni Iraola, who failed to win his first nine.

Verdict

Opta's win probability model makes Chelsea firm favourites for Saturday's clash at 51.8%, with Bournemouth at 25.3% and the draw at 22.9% — but with the league's leakiest defence on one side and a winless opponent on the other, goals appear all but guaranteed.