By Korede James
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has said the 2-2 draw against Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge in Tuesday’s English Premier League fixture was not a fair result for his side.
A stoppage time free-kick from Reece James helped the Blues salvage a point against the Cherries.
Cole Palmer opened the scoring for Chelsea before Justin Kluivert and Antoine Semenyo scored to put Bournemouth 2-1 ahead.
The result means Chelsea are winless in their last five league games.
“There’s positives to take away from the game, going behind to come back and take a point but there’s negatives not taking chances. (It’s) mixed emotions,” Maresca said in his post-match press conference.
“To be honest I don’t (feel a draw was the fair result). We had a few clear cut chances we should have taken in the first half and put the game to bed.
“That can come back to bite you in the arse. That’s across football globally, if you don’t take chances it could come back and hurt you.”
Maresca also criticised referee Rob Jones for his role in a VAR check which saw Bournemouth player David Brooks remain on the pitch.
Brooks appeared to elbow Marc Cucurella, with referee Jones being advised to review the footage at the pitchside monitor.
Replays showed that Brooks made contact with the Spaniard off the ball, as his elbow appeared to send Cucurella to the ground.
However, after review Jones decided to give Brooks a yellow card rather than send the Bournemouth player off, a decision which angered the home fans.
“I said already many times (what I think) to be honest,” Maresca said. “When there’s not intention to take the ball it’s a red.
“When he gives a yellow, it means that something has happened (off the ball). How can you judge that’s not dangerous? You cannot judge that it was not dangerous.
“The intention is just to go (and make contact with) Marc Cucurella. In my opinion, it’s a red. Hopefully we can be more lucky with the referee in the future.”
