Wolves vs Chelsea LIVE: Premier League result and final score as Noni Madueke hits hat-trick in goalfest
Chelsea are still in search of their first points after defeat to Man City in their opening game
Chelsea showed their attacking potential to give Enzo Maresca a first-ever top-flight win as a manager, as they swamped a defensively-dreadful Wolves to win 6-2 in the Premier League.
An even first half saw the scoring go back and forth, Nicolas Jackson’s early opener cancelled out by Matheus Cunha before Cole Palmer and Jorgen Strand Larsen swapped strikes right before the break.
But after the restart it was all about the blues’ attack, with Noni Madueke scoring a hat-trick - all set up by Palmer - and sub Joao Felix adding a late sixth on his second debut for the club to give the Maresca era a big first league win and plenty of talking points. For Wolves, a fast improvement is needed after they disappeared entirely, leading to a mostly empty stadium by the final whistle.
Follow all the reaction from Wolves vs Chelsea in the blog below
Wolves vs Chelsea live - latest updates
Into the final minutes ahead of the start of Sunday’s action - elsewhere you can follow Bournemouth vs Newcastle live too but we’ll be sticking with Wolves against Chelsea right here.
Later we will of course have full coverage of Liverpool vs Brentford and Arne Slot’s first home competitive match in charge of the Reds.
Next up is all the action from Molineux!
Wolves vs Chelsea live - latest updates
Not sure about the relevance given the change-around on and off the pitch at Chelsea, but these two sides last met in early February at Stamford Bridge...and Wolves won 4-2.
Cole Palmer and Thiago Silva scored for the hosts, but Matheus Cunha hit a hattrick and Axel Disasi scored an own goal to give O’Neil’s side the points.
That made it a double for the campaign following a 2-1 win at Molineux, with Mario Lemina and Matt Doherty scoring before a very late Christopher Nkunku consolation.
How will today pan out?
Wolves vs Chelsea live - latest updates
With the transfer deadline less than a week away now, the new Chelsea head coach has made it clear to his bosses that there are a group of players he doesn’t want involved...and won’t have in his training sessions.
“At the moment, with the squad that we have, I am working with 22, 23 or 21 players - not with the 42 players, otherwise it is impossible,” Maresca said.
“It is impossible for any manager in the world to make a session with 45 players. It’s impossible. You cannot do that.
“I just communicate [to the sporting directors] the players that I like and the players I don’t like and because there is one week [...] left of the transfer window, hopefully we can find solutions for all of them.
“When you find solutions, everyone is happy. When you don’t find a solution, then you can create some problems.”
Time running down for a whole host of would-be starters and even internationals in some cases...
Wolves vs Chelsea live - latest updates
Last Premier League season for Wolves as an overall glance:
Top scorers - Hwang and Cunha, 12 apiece
Most big chances created - Sarabia, 9
PL rank for:
Possession - 11th, 49%
Clean sheets - 15th, 5
xG - 17th, 47.6
Shots on target per match - 15th, 4.2
Touches in opposition box - 19th, 795
xG conceded - 6th, 68.9
Penalties conceded - 2nd, 8
Yellow cards - 2nd, 100.
Clear areas of improvement for Gary O’Neil to find this term!
Wolves vs Chelsea live - latest updates
Pedro Neto is of course involved for Chelsea against his former club - he’s sub once more, but the forward is likely to feature after a handful of minutes off the bench against Man City last weekend, then a start and nearly an hour of gametime in midweek.
Chelsea beat Servette 2-0 in a Conference League qualifier, Neto managing one shot and 29 touches in his 57 minutes of action.
The 24-year-old struggled again with injury last term but still scored two and assisted nine in just over 1,500 minutes for Wolves.
Wolves vs Chelsea live - latest updates
Not that we should ever read too much into preseason results, but Wolves beat West Ham and lost to Crystal Palace this summer - while also beating RB Leipzig and losing to Rayo Vallecano.
A very mixed bag, to say the least.
Their 2-0 defeat to Arsenal on the opening weekend of the Premier League season was far from too damaging, given it was away from home, but they’ll certainly want to give a good account today on home soil and not start the campaign with successive defeats.
Wolves vs Chelsea live - latest updates
Wolves are without the suspended Nelson Semedo and striker Sasa Kalajdzic - who is still on their books but who suffered a third ACL injury last term and is still in rehab.
For Chelsea, Raheem Sterling and Ben Chilwell are of course the high-profile casualties of Enzo Maresca’s decisions over his squad this season, but Axel Disasi, Reece James and Djordje Petrovic are others not even involved in the squad, for a variety of reasons.
A lot of work to do behind the scenes to trim that squad...and salary bill.
Why isn’t Wolves v Chelsea on TV?
Wolves and Chelsea will bid to bounce back from opening weekend defeats as the two sides meet at Molineux.
Both clubs fell to 2-0 defeats to last year’s Premier League title chasers, with Gary O’Neil’s side beaten by Arsenal and Chelsea unable to overcome the off-field chaos at the club against Manchester City.
Enzo Maresca has since secured his first competitive victory as manager of the London club in the first leg of their Conference League play-off tie against Servette, though his pre-match comments about his bloated squad at Stamford Bridge raised eyebrows.
Chelsea’s European business forced the rescheduling of this fixture from Saturday to Sunday, but it will not be shown live on television in the United Kingdom.
Here’s everything you need to know:
Chelsea could still raise a fortune this summer
Joao Felix is in the door, Conor Gallagher has gone - but there’s still plenty more transfer business which could be done by Chelsea yet, particularly with regards to outgoing links.
There are a handful here of which still could get done before deadline day...
Ten players Chelsea could sell to fund summer spending spree
Enzo Maresca’s bloated squad will surely be trimmed before the end of the transfer window
Wolves vs Chelsea
Enzo Maresca heavily praised Noni Madueke after that Conference League play-off first leg win, so a start always felt a possibility here. More of a surprise, though, is the inclusion of Mykhailo Mudryk - for all of his natural gifts, the Ukraine winger continues to struggle for consistency.
“We’re going to try to help him to change,” said Maresca of Mudryk on Thursday. “We’re going to bring him the ball in the last third, and when he’s there he has to take the right decisions.
“The mistakes he makes are not technical, they are about choices. It’s about decision making. Hopefully we can help him and we can improve that.”
Enzo Maresca wants Noni Madueke to stay at Chelsea after goal against Servette
The 22-year-old was on target in the Conference League play-off first leg
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