WOLVES COME UP SHORT AT STAMFORD BRIDGE

Tonight’s game takes on a more serious tone after the weekend’s results. Wolves are just outside the bottom three, helped by Man City defeating Ipswich 6-0. Cunha starts after missing two games due to suspension. Sarabia is preferred to Guedes on the wing. Chelsea have Jackson and Palmer both available after fitness concerns.

The game settled into a pattern of Chelsea putting the ball into the danger area repeatedly, but Wolves seemed to be coping. However, going forward, Wolves couldn’t keep the ball to build any attacks of their own. It seemed a matter of time before Chelsea would score.

Once again, VAR reared its head. The ball came back into the box over all the Wolves players. It appeared that there were four Chelsea players offside. But VAR judged that as the ball took a deflection off a Wolves player, the Chelsea players were not offside. T. Adarabioyo tucked the ball away from six yards. It looked like Wolves had fallen foul of VAR yet again.

Near panic set in when Doherty intercepted a pass heading back to Sa. But Sa wasn’t on the same page, and the ball passed him on its way towards the goal. Luckily, Doherty was the first and quickest to react, clearing the ball into the stands.

As the half wore on, Wolves began to apply some pressure. At corners, Chelsea struggled to cope with Wolves’ tactics of packing the six-yard box and goal line. In the fifth minute of injury time, this tactic brought Wolves a deserved equaliser. Sanchez dropped the corner, and Doherty got his foot to the ball, poking home a deserved equaliser.

Half-time arrived with all to play for in the second half. Chelsea 1, Wolves 1.

Wolves had to come out in the second half and get straight into Chelsea. After the equaliser, they were back in the game. What actually happened was a repeat of the first half’s first twenty minutes. Chelsea came back into the game and gained the upper hand. Two simple goals in five minutes settled the match. Ait-Nouri played an unnecessary ball on the halfway line, gifting possession back to Chelsea. They broke quickly, and Marc Cucurella, on 60 minutes, found himself unmarked six yards out, poking the ball into the corner. This didn’t spark a response from Wolves. Ait-Nouri gave away an unnecessary free kick near the corner flag. Up stepped Palmer. Two Chelsea players approached him to discuss the free kick. The ball went to the back post, and Chalobah rose unchallenged, nodding the ball back towards the far post. Noni Madueke stooped to nod the ball in from a yard.

Several substitutions came and went. For Wolves, R. Gomes came on for Ait-Nouri, which made sense. But Bellegarde? Why no Doyle? Guedes also came on but had little effect. No Forbs?

The game fizzled out for Wolves after 95 minutes. On 89 minutes, Larsen got his first attempt on goal.

In conclusion, Wolves had the upper hand at half-time, and the match was there to be won. But they didn’t have the drive to seize the moment. The chance of an away win slipped away quietly! Gomes and Andre were overrun at times, resorting to persistent fouls. Andre got booked, but Gomes escaped miraculously! Agbadou worked tirelessly in defence and was my standout player. Sarabia did not make the most of his start, failing to create any attacks or have any attempts on goal.

The next three games are just as daunting: Arsenal and Villa at Molineux and Liverpool at Anfield. Points from this performance? Nil! At the moment, it’s three from four to go down, and Wolves are well and truly entrenched in it.