The 19th round of the 2025/26 Premier League season will feature a key match, with Bournemouth traveling to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea. In an interview, Andoni Iraola stated that his team must elevate itself to another level, both defensively and overall, otherwise they will be unable to defeat their opponents.

In their last league match, Bournemouth came from behind to lose 1-4 to Brentford after Semenho scored. After only managing 3 draws and 2 losses in their last 5 matches, Bournemouth currently sits in 15th place in the standings with 22 points.

It's worth noting that Bournemouth drew 0-0 with Chelsea at home earlier this month, and Maresca's team is currently 5th in the standings with 29 points.

Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola said, "We don't have much time to prepare. In two days, we'll be back in London to play Chelsea. We just played them recently, and to get something out of Stamford Bridge, we have to be at our best. Just being average or good isn't enough."

“We must perform at our highest level, and the team’s first-half performance definitely needs improvement, and the defense must be more solid. I think we did a very good job defensively in the game where we drew 0-0 with them at home. It will be very difficult to keep a clean sheet against them again, but at least we must improve our defensive performance, otherwise the game will become very difficult.”

Speaking about Chelsea's performance, Andoni Iraola said, "I think they are a very easy team to score from attack. They don't need many chances to score because they have so many threatening positions. If it's not one player, there will always be another who steps up. Even when they are not dominating the game, I remember when they conceded the first goal against Newcastle, but someone quickly stepped up. They don't just rely on set pieces; they have a lot of talented players."

"They can maintain a high level of intensity for 90 minutes through substitutions. They usually change wingers and center forwards, but the overall level is still very high, so they can maintain their energy throughout the game. For us, this will undoubtedly be a very challenging game."