Wolves 2 – 1 Chelsea

Wolves moved level on points with Chelsea with an entertaining but error-strewn 2-1 win at Molineux on Christmas Eve.

Mario Lemina’s header early in the second half put Gary O’Neil’s team in front and substitute Matt Doherty doubled the advantage in stoppage time. Christopher Nkunku scored his first Chelsea goal soon after but it was not enough for Mauricio Pochettino’s side.

Chelsea had chances. Raheem Sterling missed the best chance of the first half when one-on-one against Jose Sa. But it was a chaotic performance, short on style or structure. They have now lost 19 Premier League games in 2023. No team has lost more.

They remain 10th in the table. Wolves move up to 11th.

Pochettino said: “We made a mistake, we need to blame ourselves. That’s why we didn’t win today, because in the first half we had the chances to score. In the Premier League if you’re not clinical enough when you have chances, always you can concede.

“We didn’t compete in the first five minutes of the second half, we conceded too many corners. In these moments it’s about competing better and being stronger.

“I agree we’re our own enemy. I don’t want to take credit away from Wolves. They scored and they did their job. But in the first half we were the better side. And because of lack of capacity to score, we didn’t win the game.”

How Wolves won it

Pochettino went with Armando Broja up front with Nicolas Jackson for company and Sterling in frequent support and the trio caused plenty of problems right from the start but could not get the goal in the first half. All will fancy they should have scored.

Broja dallied over his chance, Jackson failed to control and when Sterling went clean through on goal he could only find the legs of Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa. It was a huge opportunity, gifted him by Joao Gomes’ poor touch when put in trouble by Sa’s pass.

With Chelsea committing bodies to their attacks, Wolves were never comfortable but did have openings of their own. A Lemina shot was blocked by Hee-Chan Hwang and the South Korean should have done better himself when put through by Pablo Sarabia.

Hints of quality, moments of wastefulness and a whiff of self-destruction in the air, it was easy to see why these two teams have had mixed results this season. But it was Chelsea who started the second half particularly poorly, Thiago Silva’s error almost leading to a goal.

The goal did come when Lemina headed in Sarabia’s right-wing corner. The midfielder did not need to jump, just guiding the ball into the corner. Wolves really took it to Chelsea for a while. Hwang going down in the box, Lemina forcing another save from Djordje Petrovic.

But the home team offered hope to Chelsea with mistakes of their own. Jackson found space between two defenders and was through but tumbled down. Christopher Nkunku came on and had a chance almost immediately, Toti clearing his shot off the line.

Pochettino was playing five forwards by that stage, pushing hard for the equaliser. Craig Dawson managed to block Sterling’s shot but injured his knee in the process. Wolves defended deeper and deeper, Chelsea throwing everything, but it was disorganised.

The chaos was summed up when Hwang was left on the halfway line alone, every Chelsea outfield player having gone up, but Sa could not find him. Wolves did appear to seal it when Doherty latched onto Benoit Badiashile’s weak clearance. But there was still drama.

Nkunku, on as a substitute, nodded in unmarked from Sterling’s cross and set up a nervy finish. That would have been harsh on a spirited Wolves side but they held on. Chelsea were beaten again, a fourth away defeat in a row. And no sign of an end to the malaise.

Pochettino defends Jackson’s form

“We feel very disappointed because I think we deserve much more,” Pochettino told Sky Sports. “This competition wounds you when you are not clinical enough. We created chances. That is why it is so disappointing. We conceded after a few corners.

“We need to score if we want to win the games. We are very disappointed. Sometimes we have to keep a clean sheet if we cannot score. We conceded too many corners. We need to keep going and pushing. Young teams learn from this sort of game.”

Speaking in the press conference afterwards, Pochettino addressed the ironic cheers that the Chelsea supporters aimed at Jackson when he was withdrawn in the second half. “I did not hear the fans,” he said, before going on to defend the striker’s form.

“It is how you manage expectations, how you set expectations. If you compare Jackson to others his age who arrive in a new league, he is scoring goals. We cannot blame him. We need to play more together because it is a team sport. We cannot blame only one. He is young, first season in the Premier League and expectation is massive at Chelsea.”

When it was put to Pochettino that his team have missed more big chances than any other team, he added: “It is difficult because always we talk about creating chances, putting your players in the best situation to score. That is why we are frustrated. It is not an easy thing to manage. It is about time, helping the players to be more clinical in front of goal. Because they have the capacity. That is why they are here.”

O’Neil’s tactics help Wolves to win

Lemina told Sky Sports after his player-of-the-match performance that O’Neil’s tactical changes helped Wolves to combat Chelsea. Interestingly, the first of those did not happen at half-time but 15 minutes into the match when Rayan Ait-Nouri went down.

“It worked really well,” said Lemina. Asking O’Neil about that in the press conference afterwards, the Wolves boss elaborated. “It was an opportunity to tweak a few things. Chelsea have used a few systems and it was one that we had not prepped for.”

He added: “I could see in the first 12 to 15 minutes it was going to cause us one or two problems tactically. I was able to move a few things around when Rayan went down that helped us. I was able to put a bit more detail on it at half-time.

“The lads took it really well because it can be hard to take it on quickly with a Premier League game going on. After the first 15 minutes, the structure was really good off the ball. We used three or four different structures today which is good.

“The lads really struggled with that when I first came. The group I left that I’d had for a while, they were really good at being adaptable and I was able to throw stuff on them quite late. I could see with this group early on that it was a problem for them.

“I had to make it more predictable and simple but today was not that predictable and not that simple but they dealt with it really well, so really good from the lads to take it on the way that they did.” It is a reason for optimism that Wolves can improve in 2024.

The match in stats

• Only Almeria, Werder Bremen and Empoli have lost more games across the five big European leagues than Chelsea in 2023.
• Chelsea have lost four consecutive away Premier League games for the first time since 2000.
• Chelsea have missed 36 of their 57 big chances in the Premier League this season, more than any other side.
• Wolves have scored in 16 consecutive top-flight games at Molineux for the first time since 1970.

What’s next?

Wolves go to Brentford on Wednesday; kick-off 7.30pm. Gary O’Neil’s side then play their final fixture of 2023 on December 30 at home to Everton; kick-off 3pm.

Chelsea face a London derby on Wednesday as they host Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge; kick-off 7.30pm. The Blues’ final fixture of the year comes at Kenilworth Road as they face relegation strugglers Luton on December 30; kick-off 12.30pm.