Chelsea v Bournemouth: Both teams can score at the Bridge

• Chelsea will hope to emerge stronger from the World Cup break

• Bournemouth are no strangers to success at Stamford Bridge
• The Cherries have the firepower to play their part in a BTTS bet at attractive odds

Chelsea entered break in a slump

While plenty of Premier League managers were irked by a World Cup being plonked in the middle of the season, the timing probably worked in Graham Potter's favour.

Before the thrills and controversy of Qatar, the Blues had lost their previous four domestic games: three straight defeats in the Premier League and a Carabao Cup exit at Manchester City.

Wind back further to the second half of October and a pair of draws against Manchester United and Brentford mean that Chelsea headed into the World Cup break having taken just two points from 15.

That slump hardly looked imminent when Chelsea won five games on the trot - including home and away wins against Milan in the Champions League - in a whirlwind run of fixtures from October 1 to October 16.

But question marks over performances, results and tactics have been in abundance since and the Blues entered Christmas in eighth spot, a place below Potter's former employers Brighton.

The club are putting plans in place to secure success down the line but the main focus now is getting back in the hunt for a Champions League place. Chelsea have an eight-point deficit to make up on fourth-placed Spurs.

O'Neil has deserved full-time appointment

Bournemouth, like Chelsea, also decided to axe the manager they started the season with.

But while Thomas Tuchel's departure hasn't yet paid off for the hosts, the replacing of Scott Parker with Gary O'Neil has clearly had a major galvanising effect at Bournemouth.

Parker left on the back of a 9-0 humiliation at Anfield while O'Neil's haul of 13 points from 11 matches (W3, D4, L4) - form that, if sustained, would help the Cherries stay up - was enough to secure him the job full time .

That appointment was made during the World Cup so this will be his first Premier League game in full charge.

He's already had his opening match after Bournemouth did battle with former manager, Eddie Howe, in a Carabao Cup clash at St James' Park two days after the World Cup final.

Newcastle emerged as narrow 1-0 winners via an Adam Smith own goal but Bournemouth had their chances, with Kieffer Moore and Dominic Solanke not taking opportunities.

Cherries have impressive record at Chelsea

Bournemouth fans have enjoyed their trips to Stamford Bridge in recent seasons.

Dan Gosling nicked an 84th minute winner when they last visited in December 2019 while the Cherries also won 3-0 in January 2018 and 1-0 in December 2015.

Beyond Manchester City and Liverpool you won't find a top-flight team with more wins there over that time period.

Chelsea are just 1.341/3 to gain all three points in this one while Bournemouth are 11.521/2 to score another away win. The Draw trades at 5.79/2.

I have a feeling the break will have done Chelsea good and they'll benefit from a reset and probably take the points. But a lay of the hosts is certainly tempting.

Both teams can find the net

Bournemouth fired blanks at Newcastle but they had chances and they're a side who can score goals.

Indeed, before the mid-season break, they'd scored eight times in their three previous Premier League games. Add in a 4-1 home win over Everton in the Carabao Cup and it was 12 in four!

That run included three goals at Leeds while they also grabbed a treble at Nottingham Forest and two at Fulham.

It's Bournemouth's goalscoring potential that attracts me to a bet on Both Teams to Score at around 2.26/5.

For all Chelsea's wobbles, Premier League leaders Arsenal are the only domestic or European side to stop them scoring at Stamford Bridge this season so everything suggests a home goal too.

BTTS looks better than Over 2.5 goals at just 1.738/11.

Sterling has proven record

Raheem Sterling started the World Cup in great style after scoring in England's opening 6-2 rout of Iran but the tournament turned sour for him after that.

The England man had to return home following a break-in at his house and he was on the pitch as a sub when Gareth Southgate's men lost 2-1 to eventual runners-up France.

It will be interesting to see how England's players respond and if you believe it will be in a positive manner, Sterling has quite a record against Bournemouth, scoring nine times against them including a hat-trick.

Four of his five goals for Chelsea this season have come at home and if he plays in a more advanced role Sterling and Both teams to Score could be decent at over 3/1 (4.1) on the Bet Builder.

Adding in a Dominic Solanke goal to the above extends those odds to just over 10/1.

The Bournemouth striker has slotted home in three of his last five Premier League away games.

Opta stat

Chelsea have lost each of their last three Premier League games, last losing four in a row back in February/March 1998 under Ruud Gullit (1 game) and Gianluca Vialli (3).