Wolves 0-0 Chelsea, Premier League: Post-match reaction, ratings

The Premier League rejected Chelsea’s request to postpone this match, so our undermanned and overworked team had to take on an ever-annoying Wolves side that don’t concede many and score just as little.

Chelsea made a decent start, but after the first few minutes, Wolves came into the ascendancy, not being troubled at the back and countering effectively. One of those lightning-quick counters even had the ball in the back of the net — Daniel “Turns Into Mbappé Against Chelsea” Podence scoring — but it was ruled out by a late flag from the linesman, and rightly so. (Jiménez whiffed on his shot but influenced the goalkeeper’s actions.)

The match continued without either side creating anything of significance until added-on time, when Chelsea put the Wolves goal under consistent pressure for the first time all game though not before Dendoncker missed a wide open header in the Chelsea penalty area.

Tuchel saw it fit to put in Saúl at half-time, which was certainly a choice. Chelsea did start the second period brightly and created several dangerous situations, but did not test the goalkeeper. Wolves then grew back into the game, though Chelsea retained control to a large degree.

Unfortunately, facing one of the staunches defenses in the league that kept both City to Liverpool to just 1 goal, we were not really able to create (m)any clear chances. The one fantastic chance we did manage to create was wasted by Pulisic twelve minutes from time.

Two more points dropped.

Carefree.

• Two changes from Thursday, both enforced with Jorginho and Loftus-Cheek getting ruled out through injury. They get replaced by two players returning from injury, Kanté and Chalobah. Chalobah off at the half for Saúl.
• COVID list now stands at seven, and it wouldn’t be surprising if it just kept growing.
• City beat Newcastle easily and now have a six-point lead at the top.
• Next up: Brentford in the League Cup quaterfinal on Wednesday (unless postponed) or Villa away in the league next Sunday (unless postponed).
• KTBFFH

PLAYER RATINGS: