Bournemouth must learn how to live without Antoine Semenyo should the winger leave the club in January, so says Andoni Iraola.

Semenyo has been linked with a number of the Premier League's biggest clubs, and it has been reported that Manchester City are closing in on a £65m deal for the attacker.

The 25-year-old has scored nine goals and provided three assists for the Cherries in the top tier this term.

And while Iraola wants Semenyo to stay put, he accepts the situation is not within his control.

"I have a clear position on it and I don't want to lose him. If it happens, we still have to continue competing - we have no other choice," Iraola told reporters ahead of Tuesday's clash with Chelsea.

"[He is a] massive player for the club, [who] contributes goals and assists, gives the side energy and physicality, and is a very good character."

Asked about Bournemouth's plans for January, Iraola said: "The club is working on things in case he leaves, but obviously it's impossible to replace someone like him. It's impossible, especially in the January market when nobody wants to lose good players."

Bournemouth were beaten 4-1 by Brentford last time out and are winless in nine Premier League matches.

Iraola urged his team to "accept and take responsibility", and he knows Chelsea will provide an extra stern test.

"It depends how you react. If you finish hungry and upset, you can use those feelings for the next game. It was a big loss on Saturday [against Brentford] but I hope we can use this hunger," he added.

"It's going to be difficult. We need to improve our performance defensively because they are a team that can score goals very easily. They have so many threats."

Chelsea, meanwhile, did not make the most of a dominant first-half display against Aston Villa as they succumbed to a 2-1 defeat in their last outing.

"It’s just a matter of understanding the reason why," said Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca, with his side having thrown away 11 points from winning positions at home this season.

"When something continues to happen, it’s not random.

"We need to understand why. No matter if we’re winning, drawing or losing, when we concede a goal we lose a little bit of control. We need to understand how to manage better when we concede goals."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Chelsea - Joao Pedro

Joao Pedro has been involved in five goals in his team’s final Premier League match of the calendar year in the last two years, with both games for Brighton – he scored two goals and assisted one against Spurs in 2023 and got two assists against Aston Villa in 2024.

Bournemouth - Antoine Semenyo

Semenyo has already scored at Anfield and Old Trafford in the Premier League this season.

A goal here would make him only the fourth player to score away at each of Chelsea, Liverpool, and Manchester United in a single Premier League campaign, after Kevin Nolan in 2001-02, Gabriel Agbonlahor in 2006-07, and Robin van Persie in 2011-12.

MATCH PREDICTION: CHELSEA WIN

Having lost three of their first five Premier League home games against Bournemouth (W2), Chelsea are now unbeaten in their last three against the Cherries at Stamford Bridge (W2 D1).

Bournemouth are winless in their last eight Premier League matches against Chelsea (D4 L4), with the last two ending as draws – only two of the first 15 meetings between the teams had been drawn.

This is just the second time Chelsea have faced an opponent twice in the same month in the Premier League, previously drawing twice with Manchester United in December 1998.

All eight of Bournemouth’s Premier League goals at Stamford Bridge versus Chelsea have been scored in the second half – they have had 39 shots in the first half of eight games without scoring.

Bournemouth have won their final league game in just one of the last seven calendar years (D1 L5), beating Cardiff City 3-0 in December 2021.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Chelsea - 58.1%

Draw - 21.8%

Bournemouth - 20.1%