James scores last-gasp equaliser for Chelsea

Chelsea club captain Reece James marked his Premier League return from injury with a stoppage-time equaliser to salvage a draw against Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge.

The full-back has missed large chunks of the season because of hamstring problems, but he was all smiles after striking a low free-kick through a crowd of players and into the right corner in the fifth additional minute.

Cole Palmer had opened the scoring for Chelsea in the 13th minute when he calmly found the net after wrong-footing Bournemouth keeper Mark Travers with a faked shot.

Despite Chelsea dominating the first half, the Cherries were gifted a way back into the match after the interval when Moises Caicedo got on the wrong side of Antoine Semenyo and fouled the Bournemouth forward in the penalty area.

Justin Kluivert made no mistake from the spot, beating Robert Sanchez to net his sixth penalty of the season.

Bournemouth were almost reduced to 10 men at 1-1 when the video assistant referee spotted David Brooks taking out Marc Cucurella off the ball, but referee Rob Jones elected to only book the wide midfielder after reviewing the incident on a monitor.

The relieved visitors then took the lead in the 68th minute through Semenyo's fierce left-footed strike which flashed past Sanchez and went in off the left post, and they looked set for an excellent away win.

Yet Chelsea kept going and hit back with time running out when James made his telling intervention.

Chelsea remain fourth in the Premier League table, 10 points behind leaders Liverpool. Bournemouth stay seventh, three points behind the Blues.

Full-back James has had to miss 21 games this season, managing just five Premier League outings all campaign.

On Saturday the England international returned from his latest two-month setback when he played 45 minutes against Morecambe in the FA Cup.

With his game time being managed, he came on in the 56th minute against Bournemouth and generally impressed against Semenyo.

With England manager Thomas Tuchel watching from the stands, James' biggest impact came when he had a sight of goal late on.

Talisman Palmer passed free-kick duties to James and the 25-year-old rewarded his team-mate's trust by curling in from a central spot, 20 yards out.

A point was perhaps the least Chelsea deserved for their creativity, with the Blues failing to put away several chances in the first half.

Nicolas Jackson struck the post with a driven shot and had a header saved by Travers before he smashed his close-range follow up into the side-netting.

Bournemouth are having a superb season and a draw at Chelsea, as frustrating as it may feel in the circumstances, extended their club record Premier League unbeaten run to nine matches.

Andoni Iraola's side are firmly in the hunt for a European place and were seconds away from moving up to fifth and level on points with their opponents.

The Cherries' best early chance came through Kluivert who rattled a shot against the post after Chelsea keeper Sanchez gave the ball away.

The visitors even had opportunities to extend their 2-1 lead late on, before James levelled up. Lewis Cook had a shot from a corner routine saved and defender Tosin Adarabioyo did well to block when Kluivert had a chance.

That said, Bournemouth rode their luck at times and, on another day they could have been reduced to 10 men.

Brooks caught Cucurella's face with his arm as the Chelsea full-back tried to run past him and, although the move was not initially spotted, the Bournemouth man might have been sent off after the VAR intervention.

During the game, the Premier League Match Centre account clarified on X that referee Jones deemed Brooks' foul a "reckless action" and "not violent conduct".

Bournemouth go to Newcastle in their next match on Saturday, while Chelsea host Wolves next Monday.

Source: BBC Sport