With goalkeeper Neto out of his goal having made a clearance, Caicedo fired the ball in from the halfway line to break the deadlock at Stamford Bridge. Raheem Sterling doubled the lead, before Enes Unal’s shot flew in off Chelsea defender Benoit Badiashile to give Cherries hope. But Andoni Iraola’s men could not force an equaliser, as they missed out on the chance to end the campaign in the top half.
Iraola shuffled his pack with five changes from the loss to Brentford last time out. Neto replaced Mark Travers in goal, Milos Kerkez was back from suspension and Max Aarons made his first start since January. Marcus Tavernier also returned to the side, while Enes Unal led the line.
Dominic Solanke’s run of starting every league game this season was halted as he dropped to the bench due to a minor hip issue. There he was joined by Lloyd Kelly, Adam Smith and Dango Ouattara. And Neto was called into early action on his return, getting down low to deny former Cherries transfer target Nicolas Jackson inside the opening couple of minutes.
Cole Palmer then fired wide, before Antoine Semenyo had a shot held by Djordje Petrovic at the other end in a lively start. The hosts then had a loud shout for a penalty waved away as Sterling went down in the box under a challenge from Semenyo. Conor Gallagher fired wide after Ryan Christie had been dispossessed in midfield, before Chelsea did take the lead, in spectacular fashion.
Neto did well initially to read and intercept a through ball,.