Chelsea 5-1 Bournemouth: Henderson leads the way in five-star victory

Jordan Henderson scored twice and teed up another as he set Chelsea on their way to a thumping 5-1 win over Bournemouth in the Premier League.

Chelsea only needed three minutes to take a 2-0 lead, with Henderson and Morgan Rogers both scoring early, while Joao Pedro added their third within the first minute of the second half.

Evanilson pulled one back for Bournemouth, but Joao Pedro and Henderson both scored again to get Chelsea their first top-flight win since the end of August.

Chelsea flew out of the blocks, and Henderson took just 66 seconds to break the deadlock. Cole Palmer – whose new eight-year deal was announced on Saturday – powered forward before teeing up Henderson for a first-time finish that went in off the post.

And just 83 seconds after the restart, Chelsea had a second. Pedro Neto was denied by Djordje Petrovic, but the Blues kept it alive, with Henderson helping it to Rogers, who floated a shot into the goal, with Antonio Silva's header helping it over the goalkeeper.

The fast start continued as Bournemouth exploited space down the left, but Rayan was selfish and watched his effort sail into the stands.

Emiliano Martinez ensured Chelsea went into the break with their two-goal cushion, making a double save to keep out Rayan and Ryan Christie just after the half-hour mark before holding onto Silva's header.

And Chelsea wasted no time in the second half, either. Within 30 seconds, Joao Pedro had the ball in the back of the net after Neto latched onto a poor attempted clearance from Silva.

Bournemouth responded well, exploiting Chelsea's set-piece struggles. Moises Caicedo tried to hook a corner clear, but Evanilson stuck out a leg to send it flying past Martinez 51 minutes in.

It took Joao Pedro just 16 minutes to restore Chelsea's three-goal advantage, with Pep Chavarria taking Bournemouth's defence out of the game with a low cross, and the Brazilian was on hand to turn it in.

Henderson added some late gloss. Palmer won a free-kick, but caught Bournemouth out by not taking it, and Henderson curled it over the wall and past Petrovic at his near post.

Henderson rolls back the years

After failing to win three straight Premier League games before the international break, Chelsea came back with a bang and even more early goals. There have been five goals scored in the opening three minutes of games in the competition this term, with Chelsea scoring four of them.

Henderson got his first goal for the Blues in the process, becoming the club's oldest English goalscorer in the Premier League (36 years, 115 days) since John Terry against Watford in May 2017 (36y 159d).

In fact, only Emile Heskey against Derby County in April 1998 – in the opening two minutes – has a player both scored and assisted in a Premier League game earlier than Henderson (2:29).

And he also became the oldest Chelsea player to be directly involved in three goals in a Premier League game, overtaking Gianluca Vialli (33y 245d), and the oldest for any side since Cristiano Ronaldo in April 2022 (37 v Norwich City).

This was only the second time Henderson has registered three goal involvements in a single game in the competition, last doing so back in April 2013 for Liverpool against Newcastle United (also two goals, one assist).

Joao Pedro missed the international break through injury, but looked strong on his return to the side; only Bruno Fernandes (22) has been involved in more top-flight goals in 2026 than the Brazilian (19 – 14 goals, five assists).

Marco Rose's wait for a first league win with Bournemouth continues, having now suffered back-to-back losses, but they had their chances. They actually won the expected goals (xG) battle 1.46 to 1.08, but could not finish off their chances.