Wolves 2 Chelsea 1 - Report

The battling midfielder set out his stall early in the game on Christmas Eve when he made a last-ditch tackle to deny a Blues goal, as Wolves held on under some Chelsea pressure.

The hosts recovered and had a good end to the first half, before a dominant start to the second saw them take the lead as Lemina nodded in from a corner.

Chelsea pushed for a late equaliser as Wolves held their ground in defence, before a superb move in added time saw substitute Matt Doherty finish from close range to make it 2-0.

Shortly after that goal, Christopher Nkunku headed home for Chelsea to make it a nervous ending, but Wolves held on for the win.

Analysis

Gary O’Neil made two changes as he changed back to the 5-2-3 formation.

Jose Sa came back in for Dan Bentley after his shoulder injury, while Rayan Ait-Nouri made his first start after an ankle knock, replacing Jean-Ricner Bellegarde.

Wolves’ bench included three youngsters in Owen Hesketh, Ty Barnett and Tawanda Chirewa due to illness in the team, that saw Bellegarde, Boubacar Traore and Fabio Silva all miss out on the squad.

Pedro Neto was also not included, despite returning to full training following his hamstring strain.

Goalkeeping coach Neil Cutler was also absent from Molineux due to illness.

In an open and frantic start to the game, Armando Broja was in when he cut inside Toti Gomes, but as he shaped to shoot, Lemina flew into a magnificent last-ditch tackle to deny him, before celebrating the moment like a goal.

The Chelsea striker then had a big chance when he met a Malo Gusto cross, but he did not catch his shot properly.

Wolves were opened up again on the counter attack and a Raheem Sterling cross found Nicolas Jackson at the back post. A good first touch would have put him through on goal, but he failed to trap the ball.

The hosts had some chances of their own, before getting away with a ridiculous error. An awful Sa pass into Joao Gomes saw the midfielder give the ball away in sloppy fashion and Sterling was clean through on goal. However, his low effort was saved by Sa as the goalkeeper atoned for his error.

Wolves enjoyed a much better final 15 minutes of the half, however, with more intensity in and out of possession and a handful of shots blocked and deflected.

A good chance saw Pablo Sarabia play a ball over the top to put Hwang Hee-chan through, but his first time shot was over the bar, as the teams entered the half-time break drawing 0-0.

Wolves came close at the start of the second half when Hwang stole the ball off Thiago Silva and found Gomes, but his shot was deflected just wide.

Moments later, an even bigger chance came and went. This time Gomes crossed it and found Toti at the far post, but his free header from close range was saved by Djordje Petrovic.

Wolves then made a chance count when Lemina latched onto Sarabia’s corner to head home.

The home crowd were buoyed by the goal and Wolves were on top, as Matheus Cunha capitalised on a defensive error and stole the ball. He found Hwang, who went down in the box under a challenge from Levi Colwill, but the officials and VAR were not interested.

The Blues came back firing and Toti was needed to make a goal line clearance from a Nkunku shot, before Craig Dawson blocked Sterling’s effort with the goal gaping.

In making that block, Dawson injured himself and after receiving treatment for several minutes on the field, he hobbled off with a worrying-looking knock. Santi Bueno replaced him in the 70th minute.

Wolves were having to be disciplined in the face of Chelsea pressure and celebrated every tackle, throw-in and goal kick as the looked to run the clock down.

They faced 11 minutes of added time at the end of the game, but Wolves thought they had made it more comfortable when Doherty made it 2-0, only for Nknunku to get a goal back for Chelsea moments later.

Despite that nervous ending, a diligent and organised Wolves defence saw out the remaining minutes to take all three points.

Key Moments

GOAL 51 Lemina heads home

GOAL 93 Doherty makes it 2-0

GOAL 96 Nkunku heads one in for Chelsea

Teams

Wolves: Sa, Semedo, Kilman, Dawson (S.Bueno, 70), Toti, Ait-Nouri (H.Bueno, 86), Lemina, Gomes, Sarabia (Doyle, 75), Hwang, Cunha (Doherty, 86).

Subs not used: Bentley, Barnett, Hesketh, Chirewa, Kalajdzic.

Chelsea: Petrovic, Disasi, Silva, Colwill (Maatsen, 80), Gusto (Badiashile, 80), Ugochukwu (Nkunku, 58), Gallagher, Sterling, Palmer, Jackson (Madueke, 80), Broja (Mudryk, 58).

Subs not used: Bettinelli, Bergstrom, Lavia, Matos.