Key events
46 min: The first groan of the half after 26 seconds, Caicedo clanking a dreadful pass straight to Andre, who should do better with his pass forward, the ball soon ending up back with Sanchez. But that’s betrayed home anxieties in short order.
Wolves get the second half underway. Chelsea kicking towards the Shed this time. No changes.
Half-time postbag. “I mean, that had everything; energetic first 25 minutes, a goal, then the slow realisation from Chelsea that they’re too knackered too play and that poor KDH is a bit out of his depth (some of Palmer’s looks to him have been priceless), and Wolves realising we don’t have a midfield and that we can’t head the ball. Excited for more!” – Matt Muir
“It’s weird how you suddenly notice something that’s been staring you in the face for decades. ‘Old Gold’ is one of the great club nicknames, but Wolves don’t actually play in old gold-coloured kit. According to the great Historical Football Kits website, they haven’t done so since the 1930s. Unfortunately, another team has a lock on all the ‘orange’ nicknames” – Kári Tulinius
“With all due respect to the Premier League, Chelsea, Wolves and yourself, am I the only one tuning in (not sure what the liveblog equivalent of ‘tuning in’ is) to see if there’s an update from Simon McMahon on the big Dundee derby at Dens Park tonight?” – Rob Knap
(It’s 1-0 to Dundee at half-time, Rob, Simon Murray with a first-minute header. No word from our poor old MBM pal Simon McMahon, who is possibly on his second or third mug of turbo-Bovril already.)
Half-time entertainment. A schadenfreude special courtesy of the ever-entertaining John Brewin.
HALF TIME: Chelsea 1-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Chelsea were the better team for the majority of the first half … but Wolves turned the tables during the last few minutes, and will be much the happier of the two sides now. The momentum with the visitors; the hosts once again threatening to drop points from a winning position. A dramatic, nerve-jangling, entertaining second half coming up, I’ll be bound.
45 min +7: Tosin is booked for arguing the toss over the equaliser. The game then restarts, and Ait-Nouri advances down the right and wins a corner. Sanchez manages to punch this one clear. Chelsea are suddenly desperate to hear the half-time whistle.
GOAL! Chelsea 1-1 Wolves (Doherty 45+6)
Cunha loops the corner in from the left to the near post. The ball’s heading towards the top-left corner. Sanchez rises highest and claims, but the ball squirts out of his hands and drops to Doherty, who pokes into the bottom-left corner from a couple of yards. Chelsea ship a lead yet again!
45 min +5: Joao Gomes nutmegs Dewsbury-Hall to advance down the left. Dewsbury-Hall gets back to knock the ball out for a corner. From which …
45 min +4: Stamford Bridge is on edge. The home fans anxious. Chelsea have suddenly gone into their shell, memories of Fulham, Crystal Palace and Bournemouth no doubt racing through their minds.
45 min +2: Strand Larson is penalised for a garden-variety foul on James. The Wolves bench aren’t happy, and coach Luis Miguel, having said his piece with too much emotion, goes into the referee’s notebook.
45 min: Wolves are beginning to apply some pressure on Chelsea, who have recently developed a habit of shipping leads, their fans getting accordingly anxious. They’ll have six additional minutes in which to turn this momentum into something substantial.
44 min: Wolves have a free kick in Chelsea territory. They work it this way and that, the ball eventually ending up with Joao Gomes on the left. A cross is eyebrowed wide right by Cunha.
43 min: Cunha, having stolen the ball off Madueke, has the opportunity to send Sarabia clean through on goal down the inside-right channel, but hopelessly shanks a simple pass.
41 min: Andre is spun way too easily by Palmer, and responds by crudely hacking the Chelsea star to the ground from behind. That’s a no-brainer of a booking.
40 min: Ait-Nouri sashays in from the right and one-twos with Cunha. They nearly pick their way through the Chelsea back line, but Chalobah is on point to clear. Better from Wolves.
39 min: Yep, Caicedo’s back in. While he was getting treatment, Cunha was given another tactical pep-talk by the Wolves bench.
38 min: Caicedo is thankfully back up again. He limps to the sideline but looks prepared to come back on again.
37 min: Caicedo comes off second best in an old-school 50-50 with Andre. There didn’t look to be too much in it, but the Chelsea midfielder is thrashing around the turf in a lot of pain. On comes the physio.
35 min: Wolves enjoy some possession in the Chelsea half. They don’t do a great deal with it, but baby steps.
33 min: The free kick’s no good. Some relief for Wolves, who have now conceded 18 goals in the Premier League this season from a set-piece situation. Manchester United and Southampton are next on the list with 11.
32 min: Madueke drifts past Joao Gomes on the right and is brought down just outside the box. James prepares to send the free kick into the mixer.
31 min: Dewsbury-Hall sprays a delightful crossfield pass towards Neto on the left touchline. Neto comes infield and reaches the edge of the box, only to lose all ambition and turn tail.
29 min: Cunha slaps the corner straight into the side netting. What an anti-climax.
28 min: Wolves try to hit back immediately, Semedo’s presence down the left winning their first corner of the evening. Some pushing and shoving before it can be taken. The referee comes across to issue a few stern words.
27 min: It was fair to say that goal had been coming. Doherty can be thankful that it was only an indirect result of his miscommunication with Sa. That’s probably not going to make him feel much better, is it?
26 min: … but once VAR has a long look, Tosin is found to have taken possession of the pass while clearly onside. The goal stands!
GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Wolves (Tosin 24)
The corner’s half cleared. James, on the edge of the D, feeds a pass back into the box, who spins and whips an instinctive shot past Sa. However, the flag pops up for offside …
23 min: A speculative ball down the Chelsea left. Sa comes to the edge of his area to claim, but Doherty heads it past him! Neto is lurking but can’t get to the ball ahead of Doherty, who makes up for his error by blootering out for a corner. From which …
22 min: Semedo, who had started the game on the right, is now operating on the left. He’s found on the edge of the D by Cunha, but opts against shooting. Cunha takes up possession again and drags a shot wide left.
21 min: Jackson barrels down the left and enters the box, but takes too long to get his shot away.
20 min: To the surprise of absolutely nobody, Sa is fine to continue. The game restarts. Let’s see if Wolves take a different tack.
19 min: Sa goes down holding his left foot. That gives Wolves the opportunity to go en masse to their boss on the touchline for tactical guidance. Vítor Pereira flips open his notepad and dispenses some beneficial advice.
17 min: Palmer gets them going, though, dribbling into the box from the left and threading a low drive towards the bottom right. Sa extends fully to parry and Wolves clear their lines. So close to the opener.
16 min: The atmosphere at Stamford Bridge is a little muted right now. Everyone struggling to shake off the Monday blues.
15 min: Agbadou takes a heavy touch under pressure from Jackson, clanking out for a corner … that isn’t awarded. Goal kick.
13 min: Palmer curls an effort past the left-hand upright. This game is pretty open and surely won’t stay goalless for long.
11 min: A weird slow-motion ruckus in the Wolves box as Neto crosses from the left. Sa can’t claim, Dewsbury-Hall can’t connect, Doherty can’t clear. All tangled up on the floor. Eventually Agbadou clatters the ball clear.
10 min: Chelsea have enjoyed 62 percent of possession so far, taking seven touches in the Wolves box. Wolves haven’t made it into Chelsea’s yet.
9 min: Madueke already looks to have the better of Ait-Nouri. He steams past him again, looping a cross in from the right. Sa claims. Could be a long evening for the Wolves left wing-back.
8 min: Strand Larsen again attempts to make good down the inside-right channel. Again it’s Chalobah who stops him, the defender copping a whack upside the head in doing so. The whistle goes for the foul and the pressure is off.
6 min: Now it’s Wolves’ turn to go again, and Cunha nearly releases Strand Larsen down the inside-right channel with a forensic pass. Chalobah extends a leg to put a stop to Strand Larsen’s gallop. A fine saving tackle, though he’s moving a big gingerly having made it.
5 min: Neto sends the corner in from the left. Wolves clear their lines, and suddenly Ait-Nouri is bombing down the middle. He’s got options either side, though having made it all the way to the edge of the D, you’d expect him to shoot. He doesn’t, though, and the move breaks down. What a run, though.
4 min: Dewsbury-Hall cuts in from the right and crosses deep. Agbadou and Doherty combine to bundle the ball out for a corner with Jackson lurking.
3 min: Chalobah creams a lovely pass down the left to release Neto. Another loose touch; another opportunity goes begging. This is an impressive start by Chelsea, however.
2 min: James hits the corner long and Jackson gets on the end of it at the far stick, albeit to little effect. Sa claims the ball. But Chelsea come back again, Madueke out-powering Ait-Nouri down the right and entering the box. He’s got the opportunity to shoot, but takes one touch too many and a glorious chance is gone.
1 min: Chelsea are immediately on the front foot. Neto crosses from the left, the Wolves old boy’s ball earning the first corner of the evening. James to send it in from the right.
Chelsea get the ball rolling. Wolves will be kicking towards the Shed in this first half.
The teams are out! Chelsea in blue, Wolves in old gold. We’ll be off after a quick blast of this.
Pre-match postbag. “This is an incredibly odd starting 11 and bench for Chelsea (bless Trev for not telling them all to do one after the way he’s been treated); evidence of the wildly misprofiled and inconsistent squad-building despite the insanity of the spend. Could see this being another nervy and unpleasant one, particularly if it’s not comfortable by the 60th minute” – Matt Muir
“Wonder if Wolves will get revenge for what Madueke did to them in the reverse fixture. Surely Chelsea isn’t THAT much nicer than Wolverhampton for his statement, and then scoring a hat-trick against them, to go unpunished” – Kieran McKintosh
Wolves boss Vítor Pereira talks to Sky. “We conceded goals we cannot concede [in the 3-0 losses against Forest and Newcastle] … but we must look what we did in the game … we did things well … we need to correct defensively … the players believe in what they are doing … the last two results were not what we expect but we try to play with our qualities … this is very important … I am expecting Chelsea to be strong … I am looking for my team to improve … try to increase the level … [Matheus Cunha] can bring us different approaches in attack … different skills … experience … one against one … goals … to create identity you cannot change each game … we must have our model … try to play our game … we know what we need to do.”
Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca speaks to Sky Sports. “We had some problems … we tried to find different solutions and adapt … in this moment of the season many teams have problems with injury … [Trevoh Chalobah] can help us get the three points … I know [Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall] quite well and how he can help us … for sure he is going to play well … we have many important players … [Wesley Fofana] is a big loss … hopefully he can come back soon … the reason I said we were not in the title race is because I work every day with the players and can see we are not ready for many reasons … you cannot compete when you finish 12th then suddenly first or second … hopefully we can start again to win games and see where we are.”
The big news for Chelsea: Cole Palmer, who had been an injury doubt, is good to start. They make five changes to the XI that started the 2-2 draw with Bournemouth. Reece James, Trevoh Chalobah, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Tosin Adarabioyo and Pedro Neto are in. Jadon Sancho and Josh Acheampong drop to the bench, while Enzo Fernández, Ben Chilwell and Roméo Lavia miss out altogether.
Wolves make three changes in the wake of their 3-0 defeat at Newcastle United. Pablo Sarabia, Matheus Cunha and captain Nélson Semedo come in for Gonçalo Guedes, Rodrigo Gomes and Hwang Hee-chan, who all drop to the bench.
The teams
Chelsea: Sanchez, James, Tosin, Chalobah, Cucurella, Caicedo, Dewsbury-Hall, Madueke, Palmer, Neto, Jackson.
Subs: Jorgensen, Disasi, Joao Felix, Nkunku, Sancho, Gusto, George, Acheampong, Guiu.
Wolverhampton Wanderers: Sa, Doherty, Bueno, Agbadou, Semedo, Andre, Joao Gomes, Ait-Nouri, Sarabia, Cunha, Larsen.
Subs: Johnstone, Hwang, Dawson, Rodrigo Gomes, Doyle, Forbs, Bellegarde, Goncalo Guedes, Pedro Lima.
Referee: Simon Hooper
VAR: Matt Donohue
Preamble
Chelsea are still in the title race, kinda, arguably; Wolves are definitely involved the relegation battle. This one has implications at both ends of the table, so it could be a whole lot of fun. It begins at 8pm GMT. It’s on!
