Wolves 1 Chelsea 0 - Report

Matheus hit the heights during an impressive individual performance with a stupendous first time strike in the 32nd minute which was enough to continue Wolves’ stranglehold in this particular fixture with two wins and a draw from the last three Molineux meetings.

It also brought Head Coach Julen Lopetegui a second successive victory over returning Chelsea boss Frank Lampard who was in charge at Everton when the Wolves boss secured his first Premier League win back on Boxing Day.

And it was fully deserved from what was often a tight and tense encounter, but one during which Wolves showed enough quality going forward, and solidity at the back, to claim the win.

An excellent afternoon’s work provided Wolves a crucial boost in the bid to avoid Premier League relegation with the table looking a lot less concerning thanks to the Nunes’ winner.

Report

Wolves boss Julen Lopetegui made three changes to the starting line-up from the team which had drawn at Nottingham Forest.

One was enforced with skipper Ruben Neves starting his two-game suspension, with Joao Moutinho and Adama Traore dropping to the bench.

In came Joao Gomes, Daniel Podence and, facing his former club for the second time this season, Diego Costa.

Molineux was in fine voice at the start of the game, the crowd sensing its importance against a Chelsea side being managed for the first time – for the second time – by Frank Lampard.

The returning boss made two changes to the team which had drawn against Liverpool with Conor Gallagher and Raheem Sterling in for N’Golo Kante and Ben Chilwell.

It was the visitors who made the brightest start getting on the front foot in the opening couple of minutes, Reece James sending a cross flashing across goal which took a deflection for a corner which Wolves cleared.

It actually turned into a fairly frenetic opening ten minutes, both teams showing plenty of attacking intent but without creating anything too clear cut.

A couple of moments of Wolves promise included Mario Lemina having a shot charged down and Nelson Semedo making a couple of threatening breaks down the right.

But as 20 minutes approached Chelsea had a decent opportunity when Gallagher found space to wriggle free for a shot which was blocked, Sterling picking up the loose ball only for his cross to be deflected behind.

Matheus did well to win a corner for Wolves, sending in the delivery himself which was met with a header from Maximilian Kilman which Kepa was able to gather.

Wolves were looking particularly promising down the right with Semedo and Matheus, and another passage of play saw Gomes break into the area only to be halted by a perfectly times challenge.

Coming up to the half hour mark Wolves enjoyed a really decent spell, the best chance coming via Lemina, whose shot had Kepa sprawling but was deflected wide before the keeper needed to make a save.

There had been so much purpose and momentum about Wolves in this spell, and next to shine was Toti, who broke forward to great acclaim from the Molineux faithful before being fouled by Gallagher.

Wolves sent the free kick into the box but it was cleared by the Chelsea defence.

And then, in the 31st minute, the pressure got the reward it deserved, thanks to a fantastic strike from Matheus.

A dangerous cross into the area was headed out, but only as far as the midfielder, whose technique was from the very top drawer as he fired the ball into the top corner, giving Kepa absolutely no chance.

Not a bad way to notch your first Wolves goal!

The spectacular breakthrough also appeared to have knocked Chelsea out of their stride, and in the 37th minute Costa came so close to following in Matheus’ footsteps and opening his Wolves account.

Some excellent pressing from Matheus Cunha saw the ball break to Costa where, from an acute angle, he produced a decent shot which Kepa was forced to palm away.

As Chelsea tried to mount a response, Lemina became the first name into the referee’s notebook as he clipped the heels of Joao Felix who was looking to get away.

Lemina was then perfectly placed to block Felix’s effort as the free kick was chipped into the Wolves area.

Chelsea had started to rouse themselves and enjoy a bit of possession, but Wolves were keeping them at arm’s length, a Felix shot from distance comfortably taken by Jose Sa, who hadn’t been massively called into action in the opening half.

He was however needed again moments later as he cleanly gathered a cross from Felix who was growing in influence in the Chelsea attack.

But the half time whistle arrived to a fantastic Molineux reception for the Wolves players who had put in an impressive 45 minutes’ work to get them in front.

The first action of note of the second period was a booking for Marc Cucurella for a challenge on Matheus, from which Podence’s free kick was headed over by Craig Dawson.

Dawson was then needed at the other end with a superb challenge on Kai Havertz as the Chelsea forward tried to get on the end of a low cross from James.

The Chelsea full back was suddenly very heavily involved and another dangerous cross was turned behind by Dawson as the visitors sought a way back into the game.

But from a few minutes of Chelsea pressure, Wolves almost had a chance to get themselves further ahead as Cunha broke purposefully out of the defence and carried the ball into opposition territory.

He squared it to Matheus but not quite in the midfielder’s stride and by this point a couple of Chelsea defenders had got back to crowd him out.

Lemina and Gomes had been snapping into the challenges to deny Chelsea time and space but the latter joined his midfield colleague on the book just before the hour mark after a foul on Felix.

Wolves did fashion another half chance from a free kick with Cunha meeting a free kick but not being able to get sufficient power on his shot to overly trouble Kepa.

Cunha was certainly proving a thorn in Chelsea’s side with his attempts to break out of midfield and Sterling was cautioned for impeding him in the 63rd minute.

Wolves then made their first changes of the game, Costa leaving the pitch to a standing ovation from both sets of fans along with Podence to be replaced by Moutinho and the returning Hee Chan Hwang.

Cunha was involved again, firing over from a narrow angle, as it seemed Wolves had ridden out a spell of Chelsea pressures since the break.

But it was Chelsea who then broke through Sterling but his cutback to Gallagher took the heat out of the moment and the midfielder’s effort was blocked by Toti.

The visitors had already made one change with Christian Pulisic on for Havertz but a triple switch arrived midway through the half with Chilwell, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Mykhailo Mudryk on for Cucurella, Felix and Sterling.

Wolves then made two further changes with Adama Traore and Pablo Sarabia on for Lemina and Cunha.

Dawson was perfectly placed in the 84th minute to block a goalbound effort from Aubameyang and the signalling of five minutes added time did level to ease the nerves around Molineux.

Chilwell fired well off target from one decent move and then sent a cross flashing across the box which no one could get on the end before a final whistle which was greeted with unparalleled delight by the home crowd.

The only final note of concern was an injury to Matheus which saw him limp off in considerable pain, after a wonderstrike which had breathed fresh life into Wolves’ bid to move away from the threat of relegation towards the bottom end of the table.

Key Moments

GOAL 32 A Matheus thunderbolt puts Wolves ahead.

Teams

Wolves: Sa, Semedo, Dawson, Kilman, Toti; Lemina (A.Traore 74), Gomes, Matheus (Collins 90+5); Cunha (Sarabia 74), Costa (Hwang 64), Podence (Moutinho 64),

Subs not used: Bentley, Neto, Hodge, Bueno.

Chelsea: Kepa, James, W. Fofana (Chalobah 80), Koulibaly, Cucurella (Chilwell 68); Enzo, Kovacic, Gallagher; Joao Felix (Aubameyang 68), Havertz (Pulisic 60), Sterling (Mudryk 68).

Subs not used: Mendy, Badiashile, Loftus-Cheek, Zakaria