Chelsea capitulate as Wolves produce controversial comeback

Podence.Wolves.TEAMtalk

Wolves came back from a goal behind to snatch an injury-time winner versus Chelsea, but questions will be asked about the hosts’ equaliser.

Christian Pulisic returned to the Blues’ forward line, and it was down his flank that the visitors posed their greatest threat.

Before he, Ben Chilwell and Mason Mount could link up down the left, however, Wolves threatened to break the deadlock in the game’s early stages.

Efforts from distance were the order of the day. Pedro Neto’s volleyed strike the pick of the bunch after his dipping strike forced Edouard Mendy into producing a superb full-stretch save.

Chelsea soon found their feet, and in-form Olivier Giroud appeared the likeliest to open the scoring.

The Frenchman linked up well with Chilwell throughout the half, but with Wolves returning to their more familiar back three, clear cut chances were proving hard to come by.

As half-time neared, Kurt Zouma crashed a header off the bar from a corner. His leap was superb, but his effort rebounded off the woodwork to Giroud who couldn’t adjust his feet quickly enough as the ball cannonned harmlessly wide for a goal kick.

Frank Lampard’s men flew out of the traps after the interval, and the dangerous link-up betwene Chilwell and Giroud finally paid dividends.

Timo Werner played in the overlapping left-back, who in turn found Giroud in the box. The centre-forward did well to craft half a yard of space from his marker before volleying towards the near post. The ball squirmed through Rui Patricio as the referee pointed to his watch with the ball barely an inch over the line.

Chelsea’s defence was soon breached moments later, but teenage striker Fabio Silva had strayed offside before slotting past Mendy.

Wolves brought Adama Traore on to add fresh impetus, but minutes after his arrival, he appeared to injure his knee after catching his foot in the turf.

While Traore struggled in pain, Wolves found an equaliser in fortunate fashion.

Wolves were awarded a corner which replays showed should’ve been a goal-kick after the ball came off Willy Boly last. Nevertheless, Daniel Podence picked up the scraps after Chelsea failed to clear their lines before firing past Mendy inside his near post.

Both sides pushed for a winner, with Nelson Semedo finding himself in a fantastic position on the edge of the six-yard box.

Bizarrely, the Portuguese full-back opted to square the ball, much to the relief of Chelsea’s backline who were able to scramble the ball clear.

Pedro Neto then collected the ball from deep and charged at Chelsea’s defence, only being stopped by the outstretched leg of Reece James inside the area.

A penalty was initially awarded, though replays showed there was no contact, much to Neto and the Wolves bench’s chagrin.

A frantic final few minutes erupted, and with seconds remaining Neto snatched a last-gasp winner.

The winger was slipped in down the left, before darting towards goal and drilling the ball  into the far bottom corner to hand Wolves an unlikely 2-1 win.

 

Olivier Giroud Pedro Neto Daniel Podence

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