Chelsea almost threw away a three-goal cushion as they scraped past Wolves 4-3 to reach the Carabao Cup quarter-finals.
In a rollercoaster encounter at Molineux, Enzo Maresca’s side looked as though they had put the disappointment of their last-minute defeat by Sunderland behind them, cruising into a 3-0 lead in the first half, with the Premier League’s basement boys at sixes and sevens.
Andrey Santos was sent through by Jamie Gittens to slide past Jose Sa for the opener on five minutes, before Tyrique George tapped home a second on the quarter-hour with Gittens the provider once more.
Estevao scored a delightful chip with four minutes of the first period to play, as Santos caught Fer Lopez napping after a risky pass out from Sa.
The hosts came out fighting in the second half, and Tolu Arokodare netted a superb strike to get them back into contention with Chelsea’s central defenders going walkabouts, and the Black Country outfit continued to press down on the accelerator.
They got a second through David Moller Wolfe, who popped up at the back post to capitalise on some nervy Chelsea defending, and the home side’s hopes only grew when the returning Liam Delap was sent off for a second yellow card after he elbowed Yerson Mosquera.
Gittens netted a stunner to calm Chelsea’s jangling nerves in the 90th minute, ripping a half-volley past Sa, kissing the post on its way in.
But just one minute later, the Blues were up to their old self-sabotaging tricks again, as Wolfe ghosted in at the back stick once more to clip over Filip Jorgensen and set up a grandstand finale.
Maresca’s men held out, however, and they - just about - are in the hat for the last eight.
