Wolves made a bright start to the match, but Chelsea quickly established superior control and took the lead through a Cole Palmer penalty, won by João Pedro. JP was running away from goal when his ankles were clipped slightly, and he made sure to draw the referee’s attention to that fact.
The Blues kept up the pressure and were playing some wonderful football at times, but it would take another penalty to double our lead. JP again winning it — this time taking advantage of an ill-advised two-handed
push on his back, again while not exactly running at goal — and Palmer again sending the goalkeeper the wrong way.
Palmer would complete his hat-trick just a few minutes later, this time hammering home at the end of a flowing move in open play. He blazed over from a similar position last weekend, but made no mistake this time, converting Marc Cucurella’s cutback.
It was set to be an easy half, but Wolves would get the next goal not ten minutes in, by way of a corner after hitting the post just prior, to make it a less than fully comfortable situation. Set pieces, especially long throws, continue to be problematic for us.
But we’d reassert control after ten or so minutes of Wolves being in the ascendancy, and see out the rest of the game without further incident. Neto, who was getting booed throughout, missed an absolute sitter at the end, so we’d have to make do with just the 3-1.
Carefree.
- No surprises, no experimentation in the lineup this time
- Palmer nearly doubling his tally of league goals for the season in one half; 4th hat trick of his Chelsea career already!
- Five straight without a clean sheet
- Hopefully Santos’ injury nothing concerning; Hato deputizing in midfield for the final minutes
- Manchester United also won earlier today, so we stay fifth, one point behind them
- Next up: a midweek round in the league, Leeds United at the Bridge on Tuesday night
- KTBFFH
