Half-time: Chelsea 0 Bournemouth 0

Bournemouth caused Chelsea problems and were on top for much of the first half at Stamford Bridge.

Thibaut Courtois, back after three months out with a knee injury, was called into action twice in the opening quarter of an hour.

After Chelsea gave the ball away in the Cherries half, Josh King stormed through the middle and found Junior Stanislas, whose shot was well saved.

And Blues keeper Courtois rescued his team again by diving to his left to keep out King’s low shot after a lovely Bournemouth move culminated in Dan Gosling teeing up the Norwegian striker.

Chelsea are again playing without a recognised striker, with Diego Costa left on the bench and Eden Hazard deployed up front.

Hazard had an early effort saved by keeper Artur Boruc and Pedro sent a first-time shot wide of the near post following Branislav Ivanovic’s cross.

Chelsea otherwise struggled to create chances and frustration among their fans was noticeably growing just as the hosts had their best moment of the half.

Pedro pinged the ball out to Hazard on the right and the Belgian brought a decent save from Boruc with a powerful shot.

Jose Mourinho’s side finished the half strongly and Boruc produced two more saves, denying Pedro and then Oscar.