Matheus Nunes scored a stunning volley to help Wolves produce one of the narrow football scores of the weekend in the Premier League. Lampard, who was fired by the club in January 2021, has returned to the Blues’ dugout, where he will remain for the remainder of the season, but was unable to remedy the club’s attacking difficulties at Molineux. Nunes ignited what had been a lackluster first half with a spectacular shot from inside the box that reached the top corner for his first Premier League goal since arriving for a club-record fee of £42.2 million. Chelsea hardly looked like scoring and have now failed to score in their last three league games as their season unravels. They are 11th, 17 points behind the top four, and have won four of their past 21 games.
A rush of corners dominated the opening exchanges of a lackluster first half – 12 in the first 25 minutes – but there was still little goalmouth action. Nunes’ magnificent first-time volley, after Kalidou Koulibaly had deflected a cross away with his head, was a merited opener for Wolves, who had appeared more likely to score. Chelsea’s shortcomings in front of goal were exposed, with Joao Felix having their sole shot on goal, which was easy for Jose Sa – and it was their former striker Diego Costa who came closest, forcing a brilliant save from Kepa Arrizabalaga to keep the visitors in the game.
Kai Havertz had a quiet afternoon leading the line and should have connected with Reece James’ cross at the near post as he attempted to stab in an equalizer shortly after halftime. When Felix’s volley struck Nunes in the area, Chelsea demanded a penalty, and James bent a free-kick well over to add to their frustration. In the closing 20 minutes, Lampard turned to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who headed wide under pressure from Nelson Semedo. Wolves, on the other hand, saw the game out with relative ease, extending their lead over the bottom three and heaping misery on Chelsea, who are now winless in their past four.
“In terms of performance, I thought we were slightly off the pace in the first half. You could see Wolves were fighting for their Premier League status, and I thought they played with a little more ferocity. I mentioned it to the players at halftime,” Chelsea boss Frank Lampard said. “We corrected it slightly in the second half, and had some more chances, but you’re 1-0 down at that point. We’ve been here for a day or two, trying to work out the players and offer them information; we’ll keep doing that to attempt to improve since we have huge games coming up.”
“I have to try everything because we need to assess the group swiftly and pick the best players to win games,” he added. “It is advantageous for the squad to have a strong competitive edge. You don’t want players who say, “It’s not for me, I’m not playing,” or who don’t see a chance. They have a chance if they train and play well. That will be the players’ challenge in the coming weeks. We will undoubtedly analyze the game, and we will have to make improvements because we believe we want to be better, and the only way to get better is via hard work – which does not always happen immediately.”
“To win each match, you must work extremely hard, especially against this type of team. We were fortunate to score and keep a clean sheet. Finally, we have three more points,” Wolves boss Julen Lopetegui said. “It’s a good goal, but I’d rather stress the work of the other players in the various stages, their attention in this period, and their belief in their ability to play football. We deserved to win today; it is not an easy task. It’s not easy to adjust to these kinds of changes. Because they have huge players, the players’ reaction is strong. We don’t focus on what will happen to them because they can change things. We focused on our game plan and what we intended to accomplish.”
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