Chelsea v Bournemouth (17:30 GMT)

In one of several moments in the excellent BBC documentary on Salford City which brought everything down to earth, the managers, Anthony Johnson and Bernard Morley, were asked about their decision to sanction a team night out two days before a crucial league match. The players had ignored orders to have only one beer, getting drunk on the Thursday before losing on the Saturday.

José Mourinho has faced some of the same questions this week, and although there is nothing wrong with players enjoying a Christmas party – Chelsea might have needed a timely knees up more than most – in this chaotic season there is something apt about the parallels with a semi-professional club in the seventh tier.

There have been too many strops, bibs and points thrown away already this campaign, but perhaps, maybe, possibly, who knows ... the tide is changing. Since losing to Stoke nearly a month ago Chelsea have gone undefeated in three games without conceding a goal. Today Thibaut Courtois is expected to return, hailed as the best goalkeeper in the world this week by his manager, as Chelsea look to extend that recovery and distance themselves from a catalogue of flimsy performances.

For Bournemouth it is time to dig in. The Premier League table tends to transform in one way or another over the Christmas period and their task is simply to keep in touch with those above them: five of their next seven fixtures are against top-half sides and the other two offer little respite, with a trip to the Hawthorns and today’s game at Stamford Bridge.

Bournemouth’s slump has left them in the bottom three in the league, but cruelly they remain on the up and up in the injury charts with 10 first-team players sidelined. The No2 goalkeeper, Adam Federici, injured his ankle punching a corner in last weekend’s 3-3 thriller at Everton and the recently returned Harry Arter also limped off holding his hamstring.

Here are two teams struggling with their own turmoils, trying to make sense of it all. They haven’t met since 1994 so there is little precedent. In a season like this one, and on a day when Stoke beat first-placed Man City 2-0 seven days after losing to 19th-placed Sunderland by the same score, it is probably not worth trying to predict.

Chelsea: Courtois; Ivanovic, Zouma, Cahill, Rahman; Fabregas, Matic; Willian, Oscar, Pedro; Hazard

Subs: Begovic, Azpilicueta, Mikel, Loftus-Cheek, Traore, Remy, Diego Costa

Bournemouth: Boruc; Daniels, Cook, Francis, Smith; Gosling, Surman; Ritchie, Arter Stanislas; King

Subs: Allsop, Cargill, Butcher, O’Kane, Kermorgant, Murray, Rantie

Referee: Mike Jones