Match Report: Chelsea 3 – Wolves 0
A confidence winning boost with goals from John Terry, Daniel Sturridge and Juan Mata gave us a much-needed 3-0 victory against Wolves.
We were ahead after seven minutes and hit few problems on our way to beating struggling Wolves, who have now won just once since the two victories they recorded to start the Premier League season.
After Raul Meireles just missed the target with the first shot of the game, Ramires did well to win the ball in midfield before his effort from 18 yards was palmed around the post by Wayne Hennessey.
Any nerves around Stamford Bridge were quickly settled from the resulting corner, as John Terry rose to meet Mata’s cross and perfectly placed his header into the far corner beyond Hennessey.
When Mata nearly doubled the lead moments later, sending Ivanovic’s low ball flying over the crossbar, it became clear Mick McCarthy’s men may be in a for a difficult afternoon.
Wolves’ first chance of the match came when Ward reacted well to meet Jarvis’ cross from the left, but he couldn’t control his header and missed the target.
When our next opportunity did come, we made it count. Mata, once again at the centre of our best play, sped past Zubar down the left and slid a low ball across goal which Daniel Sturridge turned home with ease to double the lead.
He showcased his more explosive side as the half drew to a close. Picking up the ball on the right-hand side he cut inside past George Elokobi and thundered the ball off of his left foot towards the top corner only to be denied by an excellent save from Hennessey.
Mick McCarthy introduced Sylvan Ebanks-Blake withdrawing Nenad Milijas, but the consequences were not positive as we chalked up a third before half time. Ashley Cole’s knee-high cross was met directly on the volley by Mata, who scored a deserved goal of his own.
Ebanks-Blake might have sparked Wolves into life as the second half got underway. He dropped into space to collect a pass before slipping a neat ball through to Ward but he could only drag his shot wide.
With Didier Drogba seeming a little quiet, Chelsea supporters began to call for the introduction of Torres. Andre Villas-Boas eventually brought him on and he looked sharp but could not find his way past Hennessey during his 10 minutes or so on the field.
It did not much matter to much though as we secured the three points and more importantly at long last kept that elusive clean sheet.
Next up a Carling Cup quarter final tie vs. Liverpool at the Bridge on Tuesday night.
Gill Reeves – CSG disabled rep
Chelsea
• 01 Cech
• 02 Ivanovic (Bosingwa 77)
• 03 Cole
• 04 David Luiz
• 26 Terry – yellow card
• 06 Romeu
• 07 Ramires
• 16 Meireles (Lampard 70)
• 10 Mata
• 11 Drogba (Torres 77)
• 23 Sturridge
Substitutes
• 22 Turnbull,
• 17 Bosingwa,
• 08 Lampard,
• 12 Mikel,
• 15 Malouda,
• 09 Torres,
• 21 Kalou
Wolverhampton
• 01 Hennessey
• 03 Elokobi
• 11 Ward
• 14 Johnson
• 16 Berra
• 23 Zubar (Forde 75)
• 04 Edwards – yellow card
• 08 Henry – yellow card
• 17 Jarvis
• 20 Milijas (Ebanks-Blake 38)
• 10 Fletcher (Guedioura 83)
Substitutes
• 31 De Vries,
• 06 Craddock,
• 30 Doherty,
• 19 Hammill,
• 34 Guedioura,
• 37 Forde,
• 09 Ebanks-Blake
Ref: Mason
Att: 41,648