Chelsea 3 (Tosin 26, Cucurella 60, Madueke 65) Wolves 1 (Doherty 45+5)
A toothless second half showing from Wolves saw Chelsea claim all three points at Stamford Bridge, extending the Old Gold’s winless Premier League run to four outings.
The Blues took the lead just before the half hour mark through Tosin Adarabioyo, and although Wolves thought they had a way back into the game when Matt Doherty turned the ball home after a Matheus Cunha corner had been fumbled, they did not show enough after the break to deserve anything from the game.
Marc Cucurella was picked out unmarked inside the Wolves box to add a second 15 minutes after the break, before moments later, Noni Madueke made it three to put the result beyond any doubt.
For the first 35 minutes at Stamford Bridge, Wolves were playing second fiddle to the Blues, who were all over their visitors from the first whistle.
Despite the good play from Chelsea, the gold shirts were holding strong in their own penalty area. After his hat-trick at Molineux earlier in the season, Madueke was once again proving to be a danger down the right hand side, with the England forward playing several balls into the box which the Wolves defence were having to head away.
Cole Palmer had the first real effort of the evening when he was played into space just inside the Wolves box but he could only curl his shot well wide of Jose Sa’s right post. Palmer stung Sa’s gloves moments later, but the keeper was able to get down to push the goalbound shot away from danger.
Chelsea almost took the lead following a mix-up in the Wolves defence. A long ball from Trevoh Chalabah was headed back to Sa by Doherty, but the defender did not know his keeper was well off his line and played it right past the Portuguese. Fortunately, Doherty was able to get back to stop former Old Gold forward Pedro Neto from turning the ball into an empty net.
But from the resulting corner, Chelsea opened the scoring. The corner was played out towards Reece James whose shot at goal hit Tosin, but the defender reacted quickly to place the ball past Sa.
Although the offside flag was originally raised against Tosin, who was well behind the Wolves line of defence in the centre of the box, VAR intervened and found Cunha was playing the defender onside as the Brazilian didn’t push up with the rest of his teammates.
Chelsea could have found themselves out of sight, but Wolves fought back as half-time approached. The confidence came into the gold shirts who pushed forwards in numbers in search for an equaliser.
Cunha was again the man pulling the strings as he had several shots deflected away from goal, before a dead ball saw the Old Gold pull level in added time.
From a corner in the fifth added minute of the first-half, Cunha whipped a dangerous ball into the box, and after looking like it was heading under the crossbar, Robert Sanchez palmed the ball away, but only as far as Doherty who pounced from a few yards out.
Half-time | Chelsea 1-1 Wolves
Whatever had got into Wolves at the end of the first half complete dissipated after they came out for the second, with Chelsea dominating from the first whistle to the last.
Wolves were living dangerously right from the off as the blue shirts pilled cross after cross and shot after shot into the Old Gold’s box, but the defence were standing up to the pressure, while Sa made a comfortable stop from Madueke.
However, the pressure from the wide areas finally told on the hour mark. Madueke’s cross was this time flicked into the centre of the box by Palmer, falling nicely for Cucurella – unmarked – who was able to control the ball before turning it past Sa from close range.
Just five minutes later, Chelsea put the game to bed. Another set-piece proved to be costly for Wolves as a free-kick from the left found the head of Chalobah at the far post, and although the defender was able to guide his header past Sa, Madueke made no mistake from a yard out as he pounced on the ball to add his name to the scoresheet.
Wolves struggled to get a foothold on the game, producing only half chances without really troubling Sanchez’s goal. Cunha’s effort from distance was turned behind by the keeper before denying Jorgen Strand Larsen from a tight angle.
As the game entered added time, the Norwegian fired straight at Sanchez with a weak effort, but an under par second half display from Wolves saw Chelsea claim a deserved three points.
Full-time | Chelsea 3-1 Wolves
Chelsea | Sanchez, James (Gusto 76), Tosin, Chalobah, Cucurella, Caicedo, Dewsbury-Hall (Disasi 76), Madueke (Felix 85), Palmer (George 85), Neto (Sancho 61), Jackson.
Unused subs | Jorgensen, Acheampong, Nkunku, Guiu.
Wolves | Sa, Semedo, Doherty, Bueno, Agbadou, Ait-Nouri (R. Gomes 74), Andre (Bellegarde 74), J. Gomes, Sarabia (Guedes 74), Cunha, Strand Larsen.
Unused subs | Johnstone, Lima, Dawson, Doyle, Forbs, Hwang.
Referee | Simon Hooper
