A new era dawns at Stamford Bridge as Thomas Tuchel’s side return to Premier League action this afternoon.
Todd Boehly is expected to be in attendance today, hours after official confirmation from Chelsea that his consortium have agreed a £4.25billion deal to purchase the club from Roman Abramovich, subject to Government approval.
Blues stars will hope to put on a show for their prospective new owners and regain some momentum ahead of next weekend’s FA Cup final, having flattered to deceive of late and looked somewhat fatigued since their agonising Champions League exit at the hands of Real Madrid.
After bouncing back from defeat at Arsenal with an unconvincing win against West Ham, Tuchel’s side were bested by former boss Frank Lampard and struggling Everton last weekend to further loosen their grip on third place, with the Gunners and Tottenham now just three and five points adrift respectively.
Wolves could offer the perfect chance to bounce back, however, with the visitors having lost seven of their last 10 matches – including three in a row without scoring – to greatly damage their bid for European qualification.
They have not won away at Chelsea since 1979, while head coach Bruno Lage is absent today after testing positive for Covid-19.
Follow Chelsea vs Wolves LIVE with Standard Sport’s blog below, with expert analysis from James Robson at Stamford Bridge!
Live updates
GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Wolves | Ruben Loftus-Cheek 38′
CHELSEA HAVE THE LEAD!
Corner whipped in, flicked on by Silva at the near post. Bounces off Lukaku, into the path of Loftus-Cheek and he taps home.
We’ll have a VAR check though for offside…
36 mins: Lovely pass from Kovacic for Lukaku to run onto in the box.
Sa hesitates, he doesn’t want to come out. Eventually does just about enough to close down Lukaku.
Saiss then fouls Pulisic and he’s into the referee’s book.
James Robson at Stamford Bridge
This game really does have an end-of-season feel about it. Not much at stake for either team and it has gone into a bit of a lull.
Feels like Chelsea need to inject some pace into their play to drag Wolves out of shape.
GOAL DISALLOWED!
34 mins: Well then – Werner has the ball in the back of the net but the whistle has gone.
Pulisic slides the ball into the box, Saiss goes down in a heap under slight contact from Werner, who then finishes past Sa.
Enough contact for Saiss to go down? Wolves very fortunate.
33 mins: Corner Chelsea, who have struggled to create anything in the last ten minutes or so.
Flicked away, Rudiger keeps it in play and looks to send it back into the box. Saiss there to clear the danger.
31 mins: Wolves starting to get more and more joy going forward – Neto is causing the Chelsea defence problems.
Hasn’t been a huge amount of action at either end of the pitch, but there’s still quite an open feel to the game.
28 mins: Great pass wide from Jimenez and Neto has Azpilicueta to beat.
Knocks it past the Chelsea man, who puts his arm across to block the Wolves man. Free-kick and yellow card for Azpilicueta.
Safe to say he was not about to let Neto get past…
26 mins: Azpilicueta tries to slide a ball through to Werner, not enough pace though and it’s cut out.
Falls invitingly on the bounce for James – he can’t resist and hammers it at goal. Always rising over.
23 mins: Ait-Nouri down in a heap, after James challenges him from behind.
Free-kick to Wolves – unnecessary one too, for all James continues to protest it.
Great delivery into the box… SO CLOSE! Saiss completely free, Lukaku has just let him go. Heads it into the ground and it bounces over the bar.
James Robson at Stamford Bridge
It’s been better from Chelsea over the last 10 minutes or so. Werner forced one save and then Lukaku had an effort blocked from inside the box.
They do seem to be getting space in the channels, with Pulisic proving quite effective in a No10 role.