Chelsea’s million-dollar project continues to wander around the Premier League, lost in a middle zone of the table that is far from its glorious years. Pochettino’s men were shipwrecked again this Sunday in the matchday 18 match against Wolverhampton at the Molineux Stadium.
The blues were defeated (2-1) in a duel with countless errors in precision and concentration. The defensive failures followed one another with missed scoring opportunities, the clearest being Sterling, who ran into the goalkeeper at half an hour in a play where three players from the London team stood unopposed in the rival area.
Chelsea dominated the initial stretch, with two other opportunities wasted by Broja, until the Englishman’s glaring error changed the dynamic. Wolves grew from that moment on, and before the break they were able to open the scoring with a play by Hee Chan.
After the restart, the locals had their best minutes and found the goal reward in a corner headed by Lemina. The Blues reacted by locking O’Neil’s pupils in their area. Toti, on the goal line, prevented Nkunku from scoring, and Sterling once again saw his glory denied with a point-blank shot blocked in extremis.
On the other hand, Doherty did not waste a bad clearance by Badiashile, the umpteenth of the duel, to seal the local victory in added time. Nkunku reduced the deficit with a header, but it was too late for a disappointing Chelsea.
Wolverhampton: Joseph; Craig Dawson (James Well, m.70), Max Kilman, Toti Gomes; Nelson Semedo, Mario Lemina, Joao Gomes, Ryan Ait-Nouri (Hugo Good, m.86); Hwang Hee-Chan, Pablo Sarabia (Thomas Doyle, m.75) and Matthew Cunha (Matt Doherty, m.86).
Chelsea: Djordje Petrovic; Malo Gusto (Benoit Badiashile, m.80), Axel Diassi, Thiago Silva, Levi Colwill (Ian Maatsen, m.79); Lesley Ugochukwu (Christopher Nkunku, m.58), Conor Gallagher; Raheem Sterling, Cole Palmer, Nicholas Jackson (Noni Madueke, m.80); and Armando Broja (Mikhailo Mudryk, m.59).
Goals: 1-0, 51 minutes: Mario Lemina. 2-0, 93: Matt Doherty. 2-1,m.95: Christopher Skull.
Referee: David Coote. He showed yellow cards to Mario Lemina, Matheus Cunha and Hugo Bueno, from Wolverhampton, and Conor Gallagher, Chris Palmer, Malo Gusto, Nicolas Jackson and Raheem Sterling, from Chelsea.
Incidents: match corresponding to the eighteenth day of the Premier played at the Molineux Stadium in Wolverhampton.
