Wolves 1-3 Chelsea: Palmer first-half hat-trick bags easy victory | OneFootball

Chelsea crusied to a 3-1 victory over bottom club Wolves at Molineaux to go withib a point of the Champions League places.

Despite a strong start from Wolves, Joao Pedro’s constant threat in behind the defence proved decisive, drawing two penalties that Cole Palmer dispatched with trademark composure.

An emphatic finish soon after completed his impeccable first-half hat-trick.

Tolu Arokodare pulled one back after the break, it was never enough to alter the course of the contest.

As it happened

Wolves got the game underway and the first chance came for the hosts 2 minutes in as Mateus Mane wriggled away from Chalobah after some fine build-up winning a corner which eventually led to nothing.

In the 7th minute, Debutant Angel Gomes drew a dangerous foul with Joao Pedro taking him down.

A good in-swinging delivery came in from Hugo Bueno with Tolu Arokodare winning the header, but a good block from Fofana denied Wolves again.

Shortly after, Chelsea struck. Pedro Neto surged down the right flank and picked out Joao Pedro in the box, who was brought down by Matt Doherty.

Cole Palmer stepped up and confidently sent José Sá the wrong way, rolling the ball into the bottom right corner to give the visitors the lead.

Chelsea’s lead allowed them to gain control over the game, dictating play around midfield, forcing Wolves into a tight 4-4-2 defensive setup.

As it struck the half an hour mark, some individual brilliance from Joao Pedro saw him skip past 4 Wolves players, but a tame effort kept the visitors just one ahead.

Another lapse of judgement from the Wolves defender, Yerson Mosquera led to Joao Pedro drawing another penalty with a ball being played in behind, and an obvious push in the back gave the referee an easy decision to make.

And once again, Palmer calmly stepped up and slotted it into the bottom left corner, sending Sa the wrong way once again.

The capitulation continued as Pedro Neto sprayed the ball out to Enzo Fernandes, who found Cucurella on the underlap, and the cut back found Cole Palmer, who riffled it into the top corner, making it a hat-trick in just 38 minutes.

Rob Edwards made his first change in the 43rd minute with Hee-Chan Hwang going down with an injury and being replaced by Ladislav Krejci, taking Wolves into a back 5.

Adam Armstrong was booked in the 48th minute for a bad tackle on Andrey Santos who was down for just over two minutes needing treatment.

Despite starting the game well, Wolves went into half-time with a 3-goal deficit, Joao Pedro drew 2 penalties, and Cole Palmer scored his 4th premier league career hat-trick.

Wolves made a half-time change bringing on Rodrigo Gomes for Matt Doherty.

As play restarted, so did Chelsea’s dominant manner. Jose Sa got lucky in the 49th minute with a reckless attempt at claiming the ball, which led him to scrape his studs down Joao Pedro’s hand, but the referee waved the game on.

Mateus Mane got incredibly unlucky as a brave attempt saw him hit the bar, leading to a corner.

This corner proved to be a potential way for Wolves to get hope for getting back into the game as Adam Armstrong flicked on the cross and Tolu Arokodare bundled the ball into the back of the net.

The goal led to Wolves ramping up pressure with multiple attempts being denied as Chelsea defended well.

Liam Rosenior made his first change of the game in the 60th minute, with Cole Palmer being withdrawn for Alejandro Garnacho.

Wolves came close to a second in the 70th minute when a looping cross from Angel Gomes found Yerson Mosquera, who couldn’t guide it past Sanchez.

Liam Rosenior then made a double change with Joao Pedro and Malo Gusto coming off and being replaced by Liam Delap and Josh Acheampong.

Chelsea played a dangerous ball down to Garnacho down the left-hand side; however, the referee blew a stop to the game due to Angel Gomes being down with cramp – a decision that didn’t go down well with the Chelsea bench.

This saw Angel Gomes being withdrawn and replaced by Bellegarde just before the 80th minute mark.

7 minutes were added, which also saw Rob Edwards make his final change, where Joao Gomes was replaced by Pedro Lima.

A second-half improvement from Wolves saw them pull a goal back and test Chelsea on occasion, but the damage had already been done.

Palmer’s ruthless first-half hat-trick and Joao Pedro’s constant threat ensured the visitors never looked in serious danger, as Chelsea comfortably saw the game out.