Chelsea delivered no early presents in a 2-1 loss to Wolves on Christmas Eve.
Second half strikes from Mario Lemina and Matt Doherty were enough for Wolves to see off a lacklustre Chelsea, despite Christopher Nkunku’s late consolation goal.
It was an end to end start at Molineux, with Armando Broja and Nicolas Jackson both testing the Wolves defence early on.
Wolves grew into proceedings after some early Blues dominance, but it was Raheem Sterling who wasted the best chance of the first half. After doing well to initially rob Joao Gomes of the ball, Sterling raced through on goal, opting against passing to Cole Palmer for a tap in, to instead send a tame effort at Jose Sa.
After Sterling’s miss it was the hosts turn to pepper the Chelsea goal, with Hwang Hee-Chan spurning their best chance, curling narrowly over the bar after breaking beyond the Blues back line.
Wolves came flying out at the start of the second half, nearly catching the Blues cold on various occasions, with Djordje Petrovic doing well to deny Mario Lemina’s header from close range.
However he could not deny Lemina minutes later, with the Gabonese midfielder nodding a header into the far corner from another troublesome Wolves corner, to give the hosts the lead.
