Chelsea top Bournemouth to clinch European place
Chelsea secured a 2-1 win over Bournemouth and a place in Europe next season with a magnificent lobbed goal from the halfway line by Moisés Caicedo and a twisting effort from Raheem Sterling in their final Premier League game on Sunday.
The result means Chelsea finish sixth and will play in the Europa League if Premier League champions Manchester City win the FA Cup final next weekend or the Europa Conference League if Manchester United with the Wembley showpiece.
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Sunday’s game in warm London sunshine pulsed with energy. Bournemouth, who finished 12th, were keen to make a game of it.
The south-coast side had only 39% possession but 22 shots against 16 from the hosts. They should have equalised in the dying moments but former Chelsea striker Dominic Solanke, who came on as a substitute, fired over the bar from close range.
Chelsea were on top from the start at Stamford Bridge.
Bournemouth goalkeeper Neto rushed out of his area in the 17th minute to stop the advancing Sterling but his clearance dropped to Caicedo and the Ecuadorean lobbed a perfect shot from the halfway line into the net for his first Chelsea goal.Two minutes into the second half, Sterling doubled the lead by rounding two defenders before slipping the ball through Neto’s legs at the near post.
Barely a minute later, though, Bournemouth got one back when Enes Ünal‘s shot took a big deflection off Chelsea defender Benoît Badiashile and flew into the net.
The outcome was more than Chelsea fans might have expected after a misfiring start to the season under Mauricio Pochettino.
The London side were languishing in 12th place at the start of last month, despite having more success in the domestic cups having reaching the League Cup final and FA Cup semi-finals .
On Sunday no fans were booing or calling for Argentine Pochettino to go as they had earlier in the year. Instead they celebrated Chelsea’s fifth win in a row.
There were tears from former Brazil defender Thiago Silva, who at 39 played his last game after four years at the club. His team mates gave him a guard of honour before doing a customary season-ending lap of honour.
