Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 Chelsea: Pedro Neto scores late winner for Wolves

Pedro Neto scored a winning goal in added time as Wolves rallied for a dramatic victory and prevent Chelsea from reaching the top of the Premier League.

The Portugal forward tiptoed past the Chelsea defense before goalkeeper Edouard Mendy missed with a shot that strayed from Reece James.

It came after Giroud’s fierce volley from a Ben Chilwell cross slipped through Rui Patricio’s gloves to open the scoring for the visitors.

Neto was denied a late penalty to the hosts after referee Stuart Attwell reviewed his original decision on the courtside monitor and judged that Reece James was not at fault against the Wolves forward.

But the 20-year-old broke away in the 95th minute and fired a low strike into Mendy’s far corner to give the Wolves just their second win in six games.

It’s a second loss in a row for Chelsea after being beaten at Everton on Saturday, and Frank Lampard’s team again missed a chance to reach the top of the table.

Blues title burden stutters?

Lampard said his team didn’t “get enough answers” in that 1-0 loss to the Toffees, and that Tottenham also thwarted his team in a goalless draw at Stamford Bridge last month.

It was a similar story in Molineux, as the Blues failed to shoot on goal in the first 45 minutes, Kurt Zouma hit the crossbar and Giroud headed from a corner.

The visitors made amends immediately after the break when Giroud beat Willy Boly to Chilwell’s low ball to volley his left foot under Patricio.

It was the Frenchman’s seventh goal in form in as many games in all competitions, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the Blues from losing consecutive top flight games for the first time since December last year.

Lampard may have had reason to be aggrieved by the Wolves draw, which followed a corner awarded to the hosts despite the ball appearing to come out of Boly.

But Chelsea were unable to create serious chances after Giroud’s goal and were intercepted at half-time for the pace and tricks of the hosts in attack.

With Tottenham visiting Liverpool on Wednesday, this was an opportunity for Chelsea to briefly move to first place and apply pressure.

Instead, the Blues remain fifth and could lose ground in the top four with all teams in the Champions League spots yet to play this week.

Wolves find a solution to score goals

The Wolves had failed to score in their previous two games after losing talisman forward Raúl Jiménez, who suffered a skull fracture against Arsenal.

The Mexican played in every Premier League game for Nuno Espirito Santo’s team last season, scoring 17 goals.

Against Chelsea, the manager turned to club record signing Fabio Silva, 18, in his quest for goals.

Silva, who joined for £ 35m from Porto, had the ball at the net, but only after straying offside and generally found it difficult to face an experienced defender twice his age in the game. Chelsea, Thiago Silva.

The Portuguese duo Podence and Neto produced the main goal threat for the hosts, who also sold Diogo Jota to Liverpool in the summer, and seemed able to take the offensive load in the absence of Jiménez.

The Wolves also looked solid at the back, with Nuno returning to the three central defenders after playing with four in his last four games.

The results raise his side to the tenth in the table.

‘The boys believed the game was there’

The chief of the wolves, Nuno Espirito Santo, to Amazon: “We were always in the game. We were well organized. In the second half we played football very well.

“In the first half the game was close, Chelsea had the ball. In the second half, the boys believed that the game was there to be competitive.

“We were disappointed three days ago [at losing late on to Aston Villa]. Soccer is until the last minute. It can happen to any team.

“It’s a strange season. We miss our fans today. There are too many voices around the referee and the coaching staff. Too bad the fans are not here to celebrate with us.”

Frank Lampard, Chelsea boss, to Amazon: “Very [disappointed]. We should watch the game at 1-0. If you’re not playing well, don’t allow counterattacks and we did.

“Performance is what gives you results. We were playing really well and maybe the guys think ‘we’re playing well.’ When you think you’re playing well, things like this happen.”

“This is the Premier League. If you don’t act, you lose games.”

Giroud continues in prolific form: the statistics

• The Wolves have lost just one of their last six Premier League home games and have now avoided losing consecutive home games since January 2019.
• Every one of Wolves’ last 83 Premier League goals has been scored by non-British players; only Arsenal have had a longer streak in the competition (171 between October 2005 and February 2008).
• No player has scored more goals for Chelsea in all competitions this season than Olivier Giroud (eight, tied with Timo Werner).
• Giroud has scored six goals in his last four away games in all competitions, as many as he did for the Blues in his previous 20.
• Daniel Podence’s four Premier League goals for Wolves have come against London clubs (two against Crystal Palace, one against Arsenal and one against Chelsea).

Whats Next?

The Wolves will visit Burnley on Monday at the 17:30 GMT kick-off, while Chelsea host West Ham later that night (20:00).