Wolves v Chelsea: Premier League – Live! | Football

38 minutes: Sorry, I suffered a little internet outage there. I can report that nothing important happened during it.

33 minutes: The ball hit Coady’s hand, but he had Giroud on top of him and knew nothing about it, and a penalty award would have been comically harsh. The game is still on.

32 minutes: Chelsea sends a free kick into the box, where it falls to Werner, whose shot is blocked. The restart is delayed to check the VAR for a possible handball.

30 minutes: The wolves win and waste a corner, take it short and pass it to Nelson Semedo, who has a 35-yard shot that goes too wide.

26 minutes: Pulisic, Chilwell and Mount are combining to give Nelson Semedo a very difficult night so far, but the home defense is holding firm. So far there have only been two shots on target, and the wolves have had them both.

23 minutes: Ruben Neves takes a shot from a distance, floating gently in Mendy’s arms.

22 minutes: Save! The first goalkeeper to be called into meaningful action is Mendy, who rejects the ball after Neto is primed for 20 yards with an excellent move from Fabio Silva.

20 minutes: What an opportunity! Chilwell takes the corner and drops the ball to the edge of the six-yard box, in the middle of the goal, where Giroud has a free header but sends it high!

19 minutes: Zouma takes a shot from a distance, which hits a Lobos player. Mount then splinters a center from the left toward the far post, which is turned back.

18 minutes: Chelsea’s few minutes of fun are not over yet. They are repeatedly pressing, largely from the left. The Wolves have eight outfield players in their own penalty area as I write.

14 minutes: An opportunity! Pulisic slides down the left and crosses into Werner’s path, 15 yards away, who could potentially have easily flown him into the net, but barely touches the ball instead.

11 minutes: So far, it’s a fortunes swing game. The wolves had a few minutes of fun and now Chelsea have theirs. Pulisic plays for Giroud, who reaches the baseline but cannot get around the ball with his foot and his center goes straight to Rui Patricio.

8 minutes: An excellent center from Reece James heads towards the second post, where Rui Patricio arrives, claims and collides with Boly.

7 minutes: The wolves are dominating this, but they haven’t had any real chances. Coady strips Giroud, runs forward, and sends a 30-yard shot off goal.

4 minutes: A lovely run from Nelson Semedo, making his way past the saddle, he plays a double with Dendoncker, whose first heel-back pass was really very good, and then he has a shot from 20 yards, which deflects wide. Saiss heads the corner over the bar.

3 minutes: Thiago Silva gives the ball away and Neto is released from the left, but the Brazilian again blocks the center and turns off the danger.

At that very moment, players are ready for action. Football imminent!

If an empty stadium It’s still a bit depressing, an empty stadium putting on a pre-game light show to wow non-existent fans is even sadder. That’s what is happening in Molineux currently, as the players gather in the tunnel.

And here is Nuno Espirito Santo, who is asked about the absence of Moutinho and Traore:

Joao Moutinho is suspended and Adama is on the bench. That’s what the template is for. Moutinho’s quality, talent and experience is important but Rubén is also very important. I don’t see any problem. It’s not about answering [to defeat at the weekend] because against Villa we played a very good game. It is a new challenge, a very different opponent, a talented team. What I want is to compete, play a good game and do well.

Frank Lampard has had a chat with the people on television:

Pulisic naturally gives us some roominess, the ability to pass people, so I’m happy. He has had some problems with a hamstring, but he has trained for a few days and has come straight back. In recent seasons Liverpool and Man City have drifted apart, but this year, albeit in the early days, it seems a bit different. But that doesn’t worry me, I just want to win to get back on track.

Looks like a perfect night for football in Wolverhampton. Forecasters are predicting winds of 7 ° C, 8 mph and there will be no rain tonight.

Here is PA Media face teams:

Rubén Neves returned for Wolves to replace the suspended Joao Moutinho for Chelsea’s visit. Willy Boly also replaced Adama Traore for the Premier League clash at Molineux. Frank Lampard made a change for the visitors with Christian Pulisic starting in place of Mateo Kovacic, who fell to the bench.

The team news is on, and these are the lineups for tonight:

Wolverhampton: Rui Patricio, Boly, Coady, Saiss, Nelson Semedo, Dendoncker, Neves, Marcal, Pedro Neto, Silva, Daniel Podence. Subs: However, Ait Nouri, Vitinha, Ruddy, Traore, Kilman, Otasowie.
Chelsea: Mendy, James, Zouma, Thiago Silva, Chilwell, Havertz, Kante, Mount, Pulisic, Giroud, Werner. Subs: Kepa, Rudiger, Jorginho, Abraham, Kovacic, Gilmour, Azpilicueta.
Referee: Stuart Attwell.

Here’s a strange fact that I noticed while researching this game: Last season only two Premier League teams won, on average, more than 1.65 points per away game: Liverpool and Manchester City. The season before three teams made it, that pair plus Tottenham. This season that number is currently being surpassed by Manchester United, Leicester, Spurs, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Southampton, West Ham and Everton. Eight teams! That’s two more than the number (six, math freaks) they are handling it at home, and they did it despite Liverpool and City having 16^th and the ninth-best road record in the division respectively: if any of them had performed close to their normal high standards on the road this season, there would be 10 teams, half of the entire division, performing on their travels at a level which normally only reaches the very elitist.

I admit, it is not a statistic that has a great influence on this game, but I found it curious and wanted to tell someone about it.

Another thing: about 8% of all league games end goalless, but only four of the 109 games played by Chelsea and Wolves, a piffling 3.7%, have done so, and of those one was played in 1911 and one in 1925. There have been almost as many 5-2 victories in this match (three) as 0-0 draws. If past results are an indicator (and they aren’t, actually, but bear with me) then one of these sides is more likely to get six (which has happened on occasion) than neither. Only about 0.8% of league matches end 3-3, a much more unlikely score than 0-0, except for matches between Chelsea and Wolves, when 4.6% of all matches ended with six goals. shared equally.

I’m sure you will agree, this is very exciting. As would the fact that a Chelsea win would take them, at least temporarily, to the top of the table, while a Wolves win would take them to ninth place. So let’s be on guard and hopefully share a warm afternoon / morning / whatever-where-you-are around the Premier League brazier. Welcome! Here’s a kind of preview focused on yesterday’s Chelsea: