Chelsea 4-0 Wolves: Chelsea Ease To Victory

Dominant Chelsea put four past Wolverhampton.

Nov 21, 2009 11:50:00 AM

More On :  Chelsea, Wolves
EPL: Joe Cole, Chelsea - Wolverhampton (Getty Images)

A dominant Chelsea side cruised to victory over a Wolverhampton Wanderers side that at times looked over awed. Carlo Ancelotti will be pleased to have seen his side consolidate their position at the top of the table, while Mick McCarthy's men will want to put this game behind them.
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The hosts took control early in the game and exploited the space at the back left by Wolves' decision to play a 3-5-2 formation. However the first real chance of the match fell to David Edwards after four minutes. His outstretched leg was just inches away from latching on to a Matt Jarvis cross to put Wolves ahead.

Just moments later, Chelsea headed up the pitch punished their opposition in typical fashion through Florent Malouda. The France international ran from deep unopposed before riffling a sensational shot from 25-yards into the top corner of Wayne Hennessey's net.

After the opening goal Chelsea looked assured in possession and Salomon Kalou put two efforts just wide on the mark in the space of two minutes.

A second Chelsea goal did arrive after 12 minutes of play when Malouda's corner was nodded into the back of the net by the unmarked Michael Essien. At this point the game was firmly in Chelseaís favor and a disheartened Wanderers side struggled to get near to their hosts.
Sylvain Ebanks-Blake looked a lonely figure leading the line for Wolves with Jarvis playing as a deep lying forward.

Midway through the first period the game looked dead and buried when Kalou teed up Essien, whose shot from 20-yards was deflected past Hennessey and into the net.

Chelsea continued to press up until the break but Wolves reverted to a more familiar 4-4-2 formation and improved, with Ebanks-Blake forcing Petr Cech into a magical save five minutes before the whistle.


Double trouble | Michael Essien enjoys a brace

After the break it was much of the same for the Blues with chances falling to Juliano Belletti and Alex. Wolves searched for a catalyst to get back into the match and brought on Michael Kightly to replace Segundo Castillo. Their hosts had other ideas though and minutes after the change increased their lead through Joe Cole's first goal in over a year. Anelka and Kalou combined neatly to allow Cole to slot home from 15-yards, when Hennessey should probably have done better.

One talking point this game will have raised was the Premier League debut of controversial youngster Gael Kakuta. He nearly made a dream start when he jinked his way past Richard Stearman before firing into the side netting.

It was relentless Chelsea pressure heading into the final 20 minutes of the game and Michael Essien rattled the crossbar with a thunderous strike from all of 30-yards. 

Despite the comfortable lead John Terry had his mind set on a clean sheet and this was evidenced when he tracked Matt Jarvis 30-yards to make an interception.

In the final moments of the game both sides looked happy to see it out and despite a speculative 45-yard effort from Alex it remained 4-0.
Wolves will now have their sights set on a six pointer with Birmingham next weekend, while Chelsea's eyes will be firmly fixed on the top prize.

Peter Cameron, Goal.com
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