Wolves sink Chelsea after Pedro Neto fires brilliant injury-time winner
Pedro Neto fired in a stoppage-time winner to crown a spectacular comeback by Wolves and inflict a punishing defeat on a Chelsea side who had briefly threatened to stutter to victory.
After a humdrum first half Olivier Giroud opened the scoring with a beautifully taken goal but Daniel Podence equalised with an even better one before Neto claimed a deserved victory for Nuno Espírito Santo’s team.
As encouraging as the manner of the win is for a Wolves team trying to adapt to the loss of Raúl Jiménez, the way Chelsea drifted through this game and faded when the going got tough augurs ill for their title ambitions. Frank Lampard’s side have lost two league matches in a row for the first time in over a year.
Lampard, ever eager to deflate expectation around his lavishly assembled team, had insisted the defeat at Everton on Saturday came as no great surprise, that a team in a relatively early stage of development can be forgiven the occasional lapse. The manager’s lineup did not suggest he was spooked by anything he saw at Goodison Park, as he made one alteration to the side who started there, with Christian Pulisic beginning in place of Mateo Kovacic. But too few players seemed inspired to atone; too many seemed to shrink towards the end.
Lampard suggested some of his players may have succumbed to complacency after enjoying a 14-match unbeaten run before losing to Everton, hinting they should reflect on their attitudes before Monday’s home game with West Ham.
“Maybe players can think about that,” he said. “Think about [the defeat to Wolves] and Everton. This is the Premier League. If you don’t perform, you lose.”
Nuno has been in situ at Molineux for more than twice as long as Lampard has been in charge of Chelsea but Wolves are in the throes of a transition, one complicated by the loss of Jiménez. The fact Podence and Neto attacked audaciously and scored will swell belief they can find an enduring way to win matches even without the prolific Mexican.
The spirit Wolves demonstrated confirmed their optimism remains high. “We knew it would be difficult and we said in the locker room that even if the game is not going well we would stay together and play as a team, and that is what we did,” Neto said.
Caginess characterised a low-tempo first half in which play from either side rarely surpassed the prosaic. Only Pulisic sparkled for Chelsea, regularly threatening down the left before tiring. When the American produced a bewildering change of pace to beat Nélson Semedo and cross in the 15th minute,
Timo Werner failed to apply a decisive touch from 12 yards. There has been a concerning flakiness to the German since his much-trumpeted arrival and he, like Kai Havertz and Mason Mount, struggled to exert much influence.
When Werner switched flanks with Pulisic after half an hour in a bid to contribute more, Chelsea suddenly started routing their attacks down the right. They still lacked fluency and their clearest chances in the first period came from corners.
Giroud soared well before heading a corner by Ben Chilwell over the bar from six yards and then, just before the break, Kurt Zouma went even closer, sending a powerful header against the crossbar. Giroud could not adjust quickly enough to nudge the rebound into the net.
The only time Wolves worried Édouard Mendy in the first half was when Neto unloaded a volley from 20 yards after lovely work by Podence and Fábio Silva. Mendy plunged to hist right and pushed the shot out for a corner.
Wolves were forced on to the back foot immediately after the break. When Werner took down a crossfield pass on the left in the 48th minute, he deftly fed the overlapping Chilwell, who pinged a cross towards the six-yard area. Giroud beat Willy Boly to the ball and swept a volley goalward, Rui Patrício unable to stop it crossing the line.
That roused Wolves but it took individual brilliance by Podence to draw them level. Collecting the ball on the left-hand side of the Chelsea box, the forward, as artful as he is fiery, fooled Chilwell with a neat twist and then tricked Reece James with a feint before lashing the ball past Mendy from 12 yards.
Now Wolves scented blood. Chelsea grew weak and ragged. When Neto raced into the box and tumbled as James made to challenge him, the referee, Stuart Attwell, pointed to the spot. But after reviewing the evidence the official ruled James had not made contact with the forward.
All of that became moot when Neto capped a counterattack in the dying seconds, running on to a pass by Vitinha before bursting past Zouma into the box and ramming a wonderful shot in the far corner.