Chelsea 3-0 Wolves
Premier League match report: Wolves looked utterly bereft of fight as Chelsea handed them their ninth defeat of the season, making it difficult to see why Rob Edwards is prepared to leave Middlesbrough to take the vacant head coach’s job at Molineux. Jacob Steinberg reports from Stamford Bridge …
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Malo Gusto: “They were compact in the first half, we struggled to find space between the lines,” says the Chelsea right-back, who scored his first ever senior goal tonight. “The second half was better, we found each other more easily and that’s why we scored the first goal. After that it was easier for the team.”
Joao Pedro: “To play against a back five is always difficult, the key today was numbers in the box,” said the Brazilian in an interview with Sky Sports. “If you put numbers in the box the ball will fall for us sometimes. It’s tough.
On his compatriot Estevao: “Everyone knows Estevao is a talent, when he came on he always wants to show his ability. Today again he gave the assist to me, I’m very happy for him because he’s adapted very quickly. We’re here to help him. I’m on the pitch to help the team. I’m happy to score, it’s important for my position but also to help the team.”
Full time: Chelsea 3-0 Wolves
Premier League: Booed off at the break having failed to break the deadlock despite their crushing dominance, Chelsea got their act together in the second half and won courtesy of goals from Malo Gusto, Joao Pedro and Pedro Neto.
90+3 min: Even Sam Johnstone in the Wolves goal appears to be trying to run down the clock, dawdling over a kick-out and more or less imploring Andrew Kitchen to blow the final whistle. The referee obliges and Chelsea move up to second in the Premier League table. Wolves remain anchored to the bottom, eight points from safety.
90+2 min: Chelsea win a late corner courtesy of Jamie Gittens. Estavao takes it short as his side run down the clock.
89 min: The number of Premier League teams who have avoided relegation after acquiring just two points from their opening 10 games of a Premier League season: 0.
The number of points Wolves will have after their opening 11 games of this Premier League season: 2.
No pressure, Rob.
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85 min: With very good reason, Mateus Mane looks incredulous as he’s blatantly bundled over over on the edge of the Chelsea box by Chalobah but has a free-kick awarded against him because he landed on the ball and touched it with his hands. Moments later, Munetsi drags a low shot from distance narrowly wide of the left upright.
83 min: Chelsea double-substitution: Jamie Gittens and Andrey Santos on for Enzo Fernandez and Joao Pedro.
81 min: Chelsea corner. Reece James sends the ball into the penalty area as the Stamford Bridge stewards take up their end-of-match positions. Wolves struggle to clear the corner and Estevao sends a cross from the left fizzing towards Guiu. The Spaniard is unable to connect and steer the ball goalwards.
79 min: Marshall Munetsi is booked for a foul on Joao Pedro, bodychecking the Brazilian while simultaneously stamping on his instep. Naughty.
78 min: Joao Pedro’s low shot is saved by Sam Johnstone, who lets the ball squirm under his body. Marc Guiu pounces to try and poke it over the line from close range but hits the foot of the post.
77 min: Chelsea double-substitution: Malo Gusto and Pedro Neto make way for Reece James and Mark Guiu.
GOAL! Chelsea 3-0 Wolves (Pedro Neto 73)
Chelsea score again! Some excellent, lightning quick play down the left flank takes Alejandro Garnacho clear of two Wolves defenders and he squares the ball for Pedro Neto, whose task from six yards could not be more simple. The former Wolves favourite doesn’t think twice about celebrating against the team with whom he made his name in England. He’s delighted!
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70 min: Wolves double-substitution: Mateus Mane and Marshall Munetsi on for Hwang Hee-chan and Jean-Ricner Bellegarde.A product of the youth team coached by interim manager James Collins, it’s only Mane’s second senior appearance for Wolves.
68 min: Estevao and Malo Gusto combine well down the right but Santiago Bueno charges out of defence to take the ball away from the rampaging Chelsea right back before he can get a cross in.
GOAL! Chelsea 2-0 Wolves (Joao Pedro 65)
Chelsea double their lead! Only on the pitch a matter of moments, Estevao picks up the ball on the right, jinks this way and that to get a yard on two defenders and plays a cross inside to Joao Pedro. The unmarked Brazilian swings his right boot to fire the ball past Sam Johnstone from about eight yards out.
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64 min: Chelsea win a corner which they waste. Liam Delap’s number goes up and he is replaced by Estevao, who has spent the last five minutes on the touchline feigning interest in a tactics tutorial conducted by a member of Chelsea’s coaching stap with iPad in hand.
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62 min: Strand Larsen plays the ball wide to Belegarde, whose return cross is headed clear by Chalobah. Somebody in the Wolves dug-out seems to have flicked a switch or put 50p in the meter because since going a goal down they’ve turned into 1970s-era Brazil.
60 min: A Ladislav Krejci pass out of defence in intercepted by Joao Pedro but Wolves immediately win the ball back. Moises Caicedo is booked for an over-zealous challenge on Joao Gomes.
58 min: Hugo Bueno drills a low ball into the Chelsea penalty area from the left, trying to pick out Jorgen Strand Larsen. The ball is hoofed clear. Like the Stamford Bridge crowd, the players of Wolves have also perked up and are playing their best attacking football of this game. It’s a low bar, mind.
55 min: The Stamford Bridge crowd have perked up considerably, having seen their team take the lead. They are further enthused when Trevoh Chalobah channels his inner Gandalf and stands firm in the face of a promising dart down the inside left by Hwang Hee-chan with the ball at his feet: “Thou shalt not pass!”
GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Wolves (Gusto 51)
Chelsea take the lead! It’s been in the post but it comes from a most unlikely source. Alejandro Garnacho sends an excellent cross from the left towards the far post, where an unmarked Gusto nods past a dithering Sam Johnstone from close range. It’s his first goal as a senior professional footballer!
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50 min: Chelsea win a corner, which is played short. Whatever they had planned goes awry, unless their plan was to get the ball back to the feet of their goalkeeper Robert Sanchez as quickly as possible. The crowd make no secret of their displeasure at this lack of derring-do.
49 min: Andre is booked for a shoulder barge on Pedro Neto, picking up his third yellow card of the season. It’s a fair kop – he made no attempt to get the ball as the Chelsea winger galloped past him.
48 min: Wolves win a throw-in deep in Chelsea territory and within seconds the ball is back at the feet of their own goalkeeper, Sam Johnstone. Make of that what you will.
Second half: Chelsea 0-0 Wolves
46 min: Play resumes with Chelsea on the ball and no changes in personnel on either side. Pedro Neto does well to beat his man down the left and drill a low cross towards the near post but a tightly marked Liam Delap is unable to steer a shot on target with his back to goal and from a very tight angle.
Chelsea 0-0 Wolves
Half-time: Well, now. Quite how Wolves have made it to half-time without coneding is anyone’s guess but they’re still in this game, albeit hanging by a thread. Sam Johnstone has made a couple of good saves to keep them in the match and Chelsea have had a corner cleared off the line, but the home fans are not happy. They boo their players off the pitch with the scores still level after 45 minutes.
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45+3 min: Joao Gomes concedes a fre-kick about 35 yards from his own goal with a foul on Joao Pedro. The ball’s slipped short to Malo Gusto, who lofts into the Wolves penalty area. It’s headed clear and referee Andrew Kitchen blows for half-time.
44 min: Joao Pedro drags a shot wide of the left upright from the edge of the area after a blocked shot breaks his way. He should have hit the target and doesn’t he know it? The Brazilian sends a volley of loud ‘effs” and “jeffs” sailing into the night sky over Stamford Bridge.
42 min: A low Hugo Bueno cross from the left is intercepted by Gusto, who gets enough on the ball to prevent it makoing it’s way to the six-yard box but not enough on it to put it out for a corner. Excellent defending, I suppose.
40 min: Gusto limps to the touchline but seems fit to continue. Chelsea win a corner, which Wolves head clear.
37 min: Copy + paste: Chelsea continue to press and probe on the edge of the final third as Wolves drop back and keep all 11 of their players behind the ball. The visitors have done well to repel Chelsea thus far but you can almost hear the loud creaks emanating from the massed ranks of their defence.
Malo Gusto is lying on the floor pounding the turf in pain after what looked like a nothing-challenge/coming-together with Joao Gomes. There’s a break in play as the Chelsea right-back receives treatment. I’m not sure what happened to him but he looks to be in a lot of pain.
33 min: Chelsea continue to press and probe on the edge of the final third as Wolves drop back and keep all 11 of their players behind the ball. The visitors have done well to repel Chelsea thus far but you can almost hear the loud creaks emanating from the massed ranks of their defence.
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31 min: Jorgen Strand Larsen wins a corner for his team when what looked like a very half-hearted effort to square the ball to Hwang Hee-chan was blocked by a Chelsea defender. Nothing comes of it, as Robert Sanchez catches the inswinger.
29 min: Garnacho tries to curl a shot goalwards from just outside the Wolves penalty area but his shot is blocked.
27 min: Joao Pedro makes a darting, beautifully timed run in behind the Wolves defence in a bid to latch on to a lofted Caicedo seven-iron from deep. There’s a mite too much welly on the pass and Sam Johnstone is first to the dropping ball.
26 min: The deadlock remains intact for now but one suspects that when – rather than if – Wolves concede, this could turn into a bloodbath.
22 min: Wolves goalkeeper Sam Johnstone is forced into a double save from Garnacho’s shot from a tight angle and an Enzo Fernandez shot from distance on the follow-up. Moments later, Tchatchoua clears one off the line for Wolves as Fernandez almost scores directly from a corner.
21 min: Jean-RIcner Bellegarde and Cucurella go down in a tangle of limbs and Chelsea win a free-kick wide on the left in a good position. They take it short and quickly … and quite frankly, it’s a bit of a waste.
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19 min: Jackson Tchatchoua tries to hoy a cross from the right into the Chelsea penalty area from the right flank but it takes a big deflection off Cucurella and the hosts are able to clear their lines.
18 min: Chelsea continue to pile on the pressure but Malo Gusto’s latest delivery into the Wolves penalty area is headed away by Santiago Bueno.
14 min: Wesley Fofana canters upfield with the ball at his feet before losing possession and prompting a Wolves counter-attack which comes to naught when the young French defender gets back to put a stop to Jorgen Strand Larsen’s gallop.
Should Chelsea win today, they will get three points, 44 fewer than Fofana has on his driving licence after his latest court appearance for yet another offence behind the wheel.
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11 min: There appear to be seven or eight Enzo Fernandezes on the pitch and one of them plays a sensational pass up the inside left to Garnacho from deep. The Spaniard’s pull-back from the byline into the penalty area is intercepted and cleared.
9 min: Liam Delap has a shot blocked on the edge of the Wolves penalty area after having the ball played to his feet by Fernandez. Wolves are on the ropes and getting pummeled already.
7 min: After good work by Malo Gusto down the right, the ball breaks to Cucurella, who shoots goalwards. Enzo Fernandez stoops to try and divert the shot past Johnstone but sends his effort wide.
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6 min: It’s all Chelsaea early doors, with Wolves struggling to get the ball out of their own half. Garnacho and Marco Cucurella combine down the left before switching play to the right wing. Pedro Neto slings a cross into the Wolves penalty area but it’s headed clear.
4 min: Sam Johnstone is forced into action again, as Fernandez plays a beautifully weighted pass into the path of Alejandro Garnacho, who should have done better.
3 min: Chelsea win a free-kick just outside the Wolves penalty area on the left-hand side. Enzo Fernadez whips the ball goalwards and it’s bound for the top corner but Sam Johnstone palms it away for a corner. Nothing comes of the set-piece, which is taken by the former Wolves legend Pedro Neto.
Chelsea v Wolves is go ...
1 min: Wolves get the ball rolling, still looking for their first win of the season. Their players are in their customary kit of Old Gold shirts, black short and old gold socks. Fun fact: they changed their shirts to that colour some time in the 1950s, all the better for their players to stand out ifrom opponents in matches broadcast on black and white TV.
Remembrance Sunday: Ahead of kick-off, there’s some organised pomp and ceremony by assorted military folk to remember the fallen ahead of Remembrance Sunday tomorrow. There’s a minute’s silence, followed by a rendition of the Last Post. Unsurprisingly, the solemnity of the occasion is impeccably observed by all present.
Not long now: After that cracking match between Sunderland and Arsenal, Chelsea and Wolves have a hard act to follow to justify their top billing on today’s Premier League bill. The teams are out on the Stamford Bridge pitch and kick-off is just a few minutes away.
Full time: Sunderland 2-2 Arsenal Sunderland continue to put the Black Cats among the Premier League pigeons by taking a thoroughly deserved point from their home match against Arsenal, who now lead the table by seven points from Manchester City and tonight’s hosts. City have a game in hand, host Liverpool tomorrow and will reduce the deficit to four if they can beat the reigning champions.
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Sunderland 2-2 Arsenal: They’re still playing at the Stadium of Light, where Sunderland substitute Brian Brobbey has just outmuscled Gabriel to score an acrobatic equaliser in the fourth minute of added time. Oof!
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James Collins: “We were determined not to [approach the game like] it’s a week’s holiday and then a new manager comes in,” said the Wolves interim coach. “We had to make sure that we prepared properly for the game this weekend. It’s a Premier League game that can be won. That was the message to the players, and they’ve responded brilliantly. They’ve been unbelievably receptive to what we’ve done with them.”
On the departure of Vitor Pereira: “Vitor and his staff were brilliant with me, they welcomed us to watch training, they welcomed us to be around it and they welcomed us into meetings. They were enthusiastic about the U21s, and getting players through. I can’t speak highly enough of them; they were brilliant people and good coaches.
“Sometimes in football, it is dictated by results and in the end, if you keep losing you lose your job. They understand that, but they did their job diligently. Great people and they treated me with great respect. I wish them well.”
Enzo Maresca: Wayne Rooney can’t say anything right for saying something wrong at the moment and was set up for an ambush by Virgil van Dijk, whose leadership qualities he recently criticised, while working as a pundit on Amazon Prime on Tuesday. Following Chelsea’s draw at Qarabag in a game they could have lost at the death, Rooney questioned Enzo Maresca’s rotation policy. The subject of Rooney’s criticism was raised at the Chelsea manager’s press conference yesterday.
“We are in a moment, in an era, when anyone can say what they want,” he said. “I completely respect that. I also said after the Qarabag game that, since I joined the club, it’s also my view to rotate players, and no-one complained. And the moment that you don’t win games, I can understand no-one is agreeing.
“I think that when the rotation is Andrey Santos, Brazil international player; Jorrel Hato, Holland international player; Estevao, Brazil international player it’s not about rotation. They are good, talented and young. For sure, when they are young, you have to give them the chance to make some mistakes to be better.”
Tonight’s match officials
Referee: Andrew Kitchen
Referee’s assistants: Adrian Holmes and Wade Smith
Fourth official: Anthony Taylor
VAR: Darren England
Assistant VAR: Craig Taylor
Those teams: James Collins makes four changes to the Wolves side that got thumped by Fulham last weekend. Joao Gomes and Andre come into midfield, with Marshall Munetsi and the suspended Emmanuel Agbadou dropping out. Hwang Hee-chan is in for Jhon Arias, who ius struggling to adapt to life in the Premier League, while Jackson Tchatchoua replaces KiJana Hoever.
Following Enzo Maresca’s midweek Champions League tinkering, the Chelsea head coach picks more or less the same team that saw off Spurs last weekend. Back from suspension, Liam Delap comes in for Reece James, but is highly unlikely to line up at right-back or in the midfield role James filled at Spurs. No, Delap will spearhead Chelsea’s attack with Joao Pedro behind him in the No10 role, while Enzo Fernandez drops further back. Having said that, I would like to see Delap playing at right-back as punishment for his daft sending-off in Chelsea League Cup win over Wolves the week before last.
Chelsea v Wolves line-ups
Chelsea: Sanchez, Gusto, Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella, Caicedo, Fernandez, Neto, Joao Pedro, Garnacho, Delap.
Subs: Jorgensen, Tosin, Hato, Acheampong, James, Santos, Gittens, Estevao, Guiu.
Wolves: Johnstone, Tchatchoua, S. Bueno, Krejci, Toti, H. Bueno, Andre, J. Gomes, Bellegarde, Hwang, Strand Larsen.
Subs: Sa, Munetsi, Wolfe, Arias, Arokodare, Mosquera, Chirewa, Hoever, Mane.
Early team news
Wolves are without central defender Emmanuel Agbadou, who has to sit this match out through suspension after getting sent off in his side’s 3-0 defeat against Fulham last weekend. Yerson Mosquera, who came off the bench and scored an own goal in that game, could come in for the Ivorian. Matt Doherty and Rodrigo Gomes are both injured and will miss today’s game.
Chelsea have lost midfielder Romeo Lavia to another injury after the Belgian was forced off the pitch with a thigh issue shortly after kick-off in their match against Qarabag. Levi Colwill, Cole Palmer, Benoit Badiashile and Dario Essugo are also sidelined.
Pedro Neto is expected to be available for selection after missing the trip to Baku with a minor niggle, while one or both of Jorrel Hato and Tosin Adaraybiyo are almost certain to make way following their less than stellar showing in the heart of Chelsea’s defence in Azerbaijan. In Josh Acheampong, Trevoh Chalobah and Wesley Fofana, they have a trio of potential replacements .
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Premier League: Chelsea v Wolves
Mutinous fans, no head coach, bottom of the table without a win to show for their opening 10 matches and already eight points from safety, Wolves arrive at Stamford Bridge in an extremely sorry state. Following the dismissal of Vitor Pereira last Sunday, their Under-21s coach James Collins will take interim charge of today’s game, assisted by his Under-18s counterpart James Walker.
Rob Edwards continues to be linked with the vacant position at Molineux. His current employers Middlesbrough rejected an approach for his services from Wolves on Thursday but have resigned themselves to losing him and granted him permission to speak to the Molineux hierarchy. A former Wolves player, Edwards was not present to take Boro training yesterday and was stood down by the club for this afternoon’s win over Birmingham City. Only time will tell whether his apprently inevitable arrival at Wolves is a step up, down or sideways for the 42-year-old who already has one relegation from the Premier League on his CV.
Today’s match could be a baptism of fire for Collins, who has previously worked as the club’s assistant coach under Julen Lopetegui. He takes a demoralised team to Stamford Bridge to go toe-to-toe with a Chelsea side who thrashed Tottenham in as emphatic a 1-0 win as you will ever see last weekend, before being held by Qarabag in their midweek Champions League assignment in Baku. Kick-off at Stamford Bridge is at 8pm (GMT) but stay tuned in the meantime for team news and build-up.
