CHELSEA legend Ron ‘Chopper’ Harris has backed Cherries to show more bottle than his beloved Blues in today’s showdown at Vitality Stadium (3pm).

The Stamford Bridge hero, who made more than 650 appearances as an uncompromising defender, argued his club’s meek surrender of the Premier League crown had been down to the squad’s “lost respect” for ex-boss Jose Mourinho.

And while Harris, who works on the hospitality side at Chelsea’s home matches, hailed the fight instilled by temporary manager Guus Hiddink, he expects Cherries to show greater spirit – irrespective of the result.

Harris, a resident of Mudeford, told the Daily Echo: “It will be a good game. If Bournemouth were to win, people might say Chelsea had nothing to play for. Maybe they wouldn’t get the credit they deserve.

“I might be wrong but I feel Bournemouth will be more up for the game based on the way Chelsea has performed over the past two weeks.

“They will want to say they have done the double over Chelsea and from what I have seen recently, especially last week against Manchester City, you would probably say Bournemouth are favourites.

“The (Chelsea) players owe it to the supporters and the club to put in a better performance but it could depend on who Guus plays.

“He said he would be giving one or two of the youngsters a run at the end of the season and that will have a big bearing on what sort of performance Chelsea put in.”

Harris pulled no punches in a brutal assessment of Chelsea’s shortcomings but was full of praise for the job done by Cherries and boss Eddie Howe.

“It has been a very disappointing season,” he said of Chelsea’s campaign. “Things didn’t go well from day one and I think the players lost respect for the manager.

“Guus stabilised the club with a few results and that was needed because at one stage, they were in a relegation fight with the way results were panning out.

“They have had a couple of dodgy results recently but now everybody knows there will be a new manager coming in, they should get back to where the supporters think they should be next season.”

Harris continued: “Without being disrespectful to Bournemouth, nobody would have expected them to be a place or two behind Chelsea.

“They have done so well but it will be interesting to see how they do next season, whether the manager is happy with his squad or whether he gets money to strengthen.

“I have been impressed with the way they approach their games. They have attacked sides which is great at a time when you see so many teams sit back.

“Away from home, some managers get 10 behind the ball but Eddie has stuck to his style of play.

“We always said years ago that the best form of defence is attack and he has proved that. They have had some good results and he has done very well for himself and for Bournemouth.”