On the day Wolves celebrated 130 years of playing at Molineux, Nuno Espirito Santo’s side suffered their first defeat in 16 home matches after falling to Chelsea in the Premier League.
Finding themselves 4-0 down early in the second-half, following a long-range effort by Fikayo Tomori and a Tammy Abraham hat-trick, Wolves rallied late, but Romain Saiss’ header and a first goal in Old Gold for Patrick Cutrone was not enough to deny Chelsea taking all three points back to south-west London, especially after Mason Mount added a fifth for the visitors in added time.
Nuno made four changes from the Wolves side which was defeated by Everton before the international break, with Jonny Otto, Joao Moutinho and Diogo Jota returning to the starting line-up, while Jesus Vallejo was handed his Premier League debut as part of a back three which was missing Willy Boly due to suspension.
In the Saturday afternoon sunshine at Molineux, it was the side in gold who made the brightest start to the fast-paced opening stages of the contest. Adama Traore was soon to show his lightening pace in the early exchanges, getting past Alonso to the byline and pulling a cross towards Raul Jimenez in the centre of the area, which was just cut out by Christensen.
Chelsea had their best chance of the first 20 minutes when the ball fell narrowly wide of Rui Patricio’s upright when a corner was flicked goalwards by Abraham, but Jonny, unbeknownst to the Wolves wing-back, deflected the ball wide.
The visitors had the first real chance of the match with just under 30 minutes on the clock. After referee Graham Scott played the advantage to Chelsea following Saiss’ tackle on Cesar Azpilicueta, the ball fell to Willian who fired over the crossbar from the edge of the Wolves area.
Moments later Chelsea took the lead when Tomori, unmarked and 30-yards out from goal, let fly from distance and curled an outswinging effort into the top corner of the Patricio’s net.
It was 2-0 to the visitors within a matter of minutes. Goalscorer Tomori ran through the Wolves defence unmarked before picking out Mount in the box. The Chelsea midfielder went down in the box under a challenge from Coady, but before the referee could decide whether to give a penalty, the ball deflected to Abraham in the centre of the area and tucked the pall past Patricio.
Although Wolves were keeping the pressure on the Chelsea defence, their efforts were falling short when the players were getting into the final third of the pitch, with the away side taking advantage of a quick counter attack once again.
After Willian’s cross into the box was headed away by Jesus Vallejo it fell straight to Alonso on the edge of the box. The defender whipped the ball back into the penalty area and directly onto the head of Abraham who got in front of Coady to head home his second of the match.
Half-time: Wolves 0 Chelsea 3
Wolves started the second-half on the front foot, with Ruben Neves’ effort from just outside the area deflecting wide of the post. A change in the attack at the half-way point saw more urgency in the final third from Wolves, with Cutrone coming on for Leander Dendoncker, and Jota dropping back into an attacking midfield position.
Despite Wolves’ positive start to the second 45 minutes, Chelsea caught the home side out to extend their advantage further. Abraham picked up the ball on the edge of the Wolves area before turning Coady and firing low across Patricio and into the bottom corner.
Substitute Cutrone came just inches away from getting his foot on a Jota driven cross into the six-yard box just moments after Chelsea’s fourth, with the ball finding its way to Jimenez who could only fire into the side netting from a tight angle.
Wolves got the lifeline their positive and attacking second-half display deserved with 20 minutes left in the tie. After Cutrone’s goalbound effort was deflected wide of the post, Moutinho stepped up to land the subsequent free-kick at Saiss, who jumped highest in the box to direct his header past Kepa.
Cutrone got his first in gold and black with time ticking away when he bundled the ball over the line from a matter of yards after Matt Doherty’s close-range strike from a tight angle was parried to the Wolves striker by Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa.
Six minutes of injury time was added on to the 90 minutes, but the comeback was one step too far for Nuno’s men, with Mount adding Chelsea’s fifth in the final minute, leaving Wolves waiting for their first win in their 2019/20 Premier League campaign.
Full-time: Wolves 2 Chelsea 5
Wolves: Patricio, Traore (Doherty 57), Vallejo, Coady, Saiss, Jonny, Neves, Dendoncker (Cutrone 46), Moutinho, Jota, Jimenez (Gibbs-White 71).
Unused subs: Ruddy, Kilman, Vinagre, Neto.
Chelsea: Arrizabalaga, Azpilicueta, Rudiger (Zouma 46), Christensen, Tomori, Alonso, Jorginho, Kovacic (Barkley 71), Willian, Mount, Abraham (Batshauyi 77).
Unused subs: Caballero, Pulisic, Pedro, Giroud.
Referee: Graham Scott
Attendance: 31,534
