Chelsea 3-0 Wolves: Player ratings as Blues cruise to comfortable win
By Tom Gott
Goals from Kai Havertz, Christian Pulisic and Armando Broja were enough to fire Chelsea to a straightforward 3-0 victory over managerless Wolves.
Graham Potter's side were dominant in the first half and went ahead through Havertz's header deep in stoppage time, before Pulisic's strike shortly after the interval killed things off.
Broja also opened his account for the club in the dying embers, showing some lovely footwork to drill into the bottom corner.
Chelsea began bright and Conor Gallagher wasn't far off opening the scoring inside two minutes. He was off-balance as he struck from towards the edge of the box and couldn't keep his effort on target.
Havertz then blazed over the bar a few moments later, with Chelsea finding themselves in several nice positions early on.
Wolves did pose a threat on the counter, however, while Kepa also had to be alert to keep out a nice free-kick from Joao Moutinho midway through the first half.
Sloppy finishing saw Chelsea continue to be frustrated as the half progressed. Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Pulisic both fired over in quick succession, before the latter drew an excellent save from Jose Sa with a glorious curling effort.
After what felt like 20 solid minutes of Chelsea threat, Wolves nearly snatched a goal as Adama Traore's cross found Matheus Nunes, who couldn't control his header.
Finally, with almost the last kick of the first half, Chelsea made the long-awaited breakthrough as Havertz leapt highest to head home a cross from Mason Mount and end a half in which Chelsea had 70% possession and out-shot Wolves 15 to four.
After the break, Wolves came out hottest and put together their first real passages of play, but Chelsea doubled their lead eight minutes in as Pulisic found some space in the box and dinked his effort over Sa.
Havertz failed to do the same shortly after as Chelsea sought to kill the game off, as if the result was ever in any danger.
Wolves did not lie down completely but simply could not offer any sort of a threat as Chelsea pursued a third. Gallagher attempted to replicate his worldie against Crystal Palace but sent this one ballooning over the bar.
To cap off an excellent day for Chelsea, Broja grabbed his first goal for the club with a fine low strike with just seconds to go.
Chelsea vs Wolves player ratings
1. Chelsea (3-4-2-1)
GK: Kepa Arrizabalaga - 6/10 - The odd nice save but will have simply been glad the sun was shining.
CB: Trevoh Chalobah - 7/10 - Nice and tidy. Did his job in defence and always offered an option in attack.
CB: Kalidou Koulibaly - 7/10 - Made a few nice blocks and challenges to deal with the limited Wolves threat.
CB: Marc Cucurella - 6/10 - A mixed afternoon against Traore. Usually came out on top but had more than a few shaky moments.
RM: Cesar Azpilicueta - 8/10 - Involved in absolutely everything. So unfortunate not to get either a goal or an assist.
CM: Jorginho - 7/10 - Retained possession very well and pulled the strings once again. This was his sort of game.
CM: Ruben Loftus-Cheek - 7/10 - Found himself involved in plenty going forwards. Lacked a little in the final third but the regularity with which he got there speaks volumes.
LM: Christian Pulisic - 8/10 - Pulisic could have easily had five or six goals here. Found so much space and, when he figured out his composure, netted a lovely goal.
AM: Conor Gallagher - 8/10 - Everywhere. Absolutely everywhere. Linked up very well with Azpilicueta on the right side of the pitch.
AM: Mason Mount - 8/10 - Created both goals despite not even being at his best. Can't argue with the results.
ST: Kai Havertz - 6/10 - Not the most convincing showing but he flashed his quality when it mattered most.
SUB: Mateo Kovacic (66' for Loftus-Cheek) - 7/10 - Some nice moments in possession to restore Chelsea's advantage in the game.
SUB: Reece James (72' for Pulisic) - 7/10 - Had Wolves clearly terrified. Nobody wanted to deal with him.
SUB: Armando Broja (72' for Mount) - 7/10 - Made some very nice runs and deserved his goal.
SUB: Carney Chukwuemeka (86' for Gallagher) - N/A
SUB: Hakim Ziyech (86' for Havertz) - N/A
Manager: Graham Potter - 8/10 - An incredibly fluid formation which was dominant in the first half. Made the right substitutions after the break just as Wolves were threatening to get something from the game.
2. Wolves (4-2-3-1)
GK: Jose Sa - 5/10 - An excellent save to deny Pulisic and a thorough brain-fart for Havertz's goal.
RB: Nelson Semedo - 4/10 - Unconvincing at the back and slow to react in attack. An off day for Semedo.
CB: Toti Gomes - 4/10 - Solid enough defensively but really sloppy in possession.
CB: Max Kilman - 4/10 - Looked to be feeling the pressure quite a lot and his limited ball-playing ability from the right side of the pitch proved to be a real problem.
LB: Jonny - 3/10 - Absolutely run ragged by Azpilicueta and Gallagher. Couldn't cope at all but it felt more like a tactical issue. Let down by those around him.
DM: Matheus Nunes - 7/10 - Surprisingly excellent. His ball-playing was absolutely superb.
DM: Joao Moutinho - 5/10 - His limited mobility had Matheus doing most of the midfield work himself.
RM: Adama Traore - 5/10 - Bested Cucurella occasionally but, yet again, didn't seem to know what to do in the final third.
AM: Daniel Podence - 3/10 - Loved attempting little flicks but never found a teammate. Can't afford to be so wasteful under this sort of pressure.
LM: Goncalo Guedes - 2/10 - Did nothing in attack and was hooked at half-time over his determination to hang Jonny out to dry. Not good at all.
ST: Diego Costa - 3/10 - Visibly fuming at half-time after failing to get involved. Left the pitch to a hero's reception from the Stamford Bridge faithful.
SUB: Joe Hodge (46' for Guedes) - 6/10 - Hodge's introduction actually changed the tide of the game. Can be very happy with his senior debut.
SUB: Hwang Hee-chan (56' for Costa) - 3/10 - Barely even noticed he had come on.
SUB: Chem Campbell (72' for Traore) - 5/10 - Didn't really get into the game.
SUB: Rayan Ait-Nouri (72' for Jonny) - 6/10 - Put in a real shift. Can't fault it.
Manager: Steve Davis - 4/10 - Fair play for bringing on Hodge and trying to get something out of this game but Wolves could not have been worse in the first half if they tried. Failing to counter the threat down Chelsea's right proved fatal.