Cherries solid record away at Stamford Bridge is something Gary O’Neil is “aware” of even if he does not believe it will have any bearing on the latest meeting between the two sides. In their past three games with the two-time European champions, Cherries are unbeaten, with their last win at Stamford Bridge sandwiched between a 4-0 rout at home and a 2-2 draw in their most recent meeting. Asked if he was knew about the stat,
Gary O’Neil replied: “I am aware of it. I don’t believe it will help us much in the next one, but, yeah, I am aware of it. As you rightly say, tough place to go. Top side, obviously. Big club, top coach, fantastic players. And, yeah, they’re expected to win basically every game they play, aren’t they? So, it’ll be a tough one for us, but as always, same sort of answers for you, really. We get the boys ready, get them well prepared, and I go there expecting us to be competitive and expecting us to get a positive result.”
Aside from Cherries’ record at Chelsea, O’Neil was also reminded of his visits to Stamford Bridge as a player. In nine trips to Chelsea, he tasted defeat each time. He did point out the mitigating circumstances, with the then-midfielder frequently tasked with marking generational talent Frank Lampard on more than one occasion.
Gary O Neil joked: “Nine games, nine defeats. It’s a good record. I mean, I remember playing well there a few times and I’ve sometimes I’ve seemed to be given the job of tracking Frank Lampard. I remember doing it really well sometimes and then he’d just pop up in the 70 or 80th minute, and he’s smashed one in the bottom corner. And you’d be like, “Ahh, I’ve lost him once, and he scored.” But I’ve not lost there yet, as a manager. So that’s good.”
