Wolves dampen Frank's fairytale Chelsea return

It was Chelsea legend Frank Lampard's first game back in charge of the side after being dismissed from the Blues in 2021. This spell sees him come in to steady the ship in arguably a worse state of affairs than when he left, with the side closer to the bottom three than the Champions League spots at the start of play.

Chelsea got their third consecutive match with their third different manager underway well, applying the pressure straight away. Sterling was causing havoc down the right flank, winning multiple corners for the visitors. In fact it was a first forty-five protagonised by the corner-kick stats, with both sides sharing 13. Wolves were the ones to be slightly edging those numbers, as well as the scoreboard come half-time. 

This advantage was gifted to them by Matheus Nunes, who opened the scoring with a stunning strike. The original cross got headed out to the far side, where Nunes was lying in wait. He proceeded to fire it on the half-volley, only for Kepa to see it rocket past him into the far corner. Certainly all Wolves fans will have the highlight reel for years to come.

Lampard clearly failed to instill a sense of urgency in to his players during the 15 minute break, as it was Wolves who came out for the second period the stronger. The visitors did show signs of waking up, though, enjoying a spell of dominance in the home side's box. 

The longer the game went on, the more desperate the away side seemed. Despite dominating the possession stats, they had nothing to show for their efforts, forcing coach Lampard to resort to the bench to reinforce the calvary. Attacking potency the likes of Mudryk, Aubameyang, Joao and Sterling were uncapable of putting their stamp on the game. It was a flat Chelsea side, who will have to improve from today's measly one shot on target if the fans are to regain faith in their side, especially as a vital part of the season approaches.

This result leaves Wolves in 12th, just behind their victims Chelsea in 11th place. Next up for the home side is another tie at Molineux, this time against Brentford. As for Lampard, thing's don't get any easier, with an away tie at Real Madrid to look forward to on Wednesday. That's a must-win for the side, as the Champions League is one of their only hopes of qualifying for next season's edition.

 

April 8, 2023