This was hardly the emphatic response Frank Lampard had hoped for and, as he highlighted with a whiff of exasperation, when Marcos Alonso again proved the saviour, this time to rescue a point with five minutes left on the clock at Bournemouth, there should inevitably be questions raised. Alonso ensured a
Chelsea team depleted by injuries – particularly in forward areas with Tammy Abraham sent to
Barcelona to see a specialist regarding his ankle injury – did not depart empty handed, heading in an equaliser to help hold on to fourth spot for at least another week after Chelsea fell behind to goals from Joshua King and Jefferson Lerma in three remarkable second-half minutes.
Lampard did not attempt to sugarcoat a humbling defeat by Bayern Munich in midweek and acknowledged that his side, who host
Liverpool in the FA Cup fifth round on Tuesday, were below-par in both boxes again here. “Marcos Alonso has had a big week but I don’t want my left-back top of the scoring charts,” Lampard said. “I want our attackers scoring goals and they haven’t.