New owners in attendance as Chelsea squander 2-goal lead

Agencies

LONDON: Chelsea blew a twogoal lead in front of prospective owner Todd Boehly as Wolves snatched a dramatic 2-2 draw, while Watford were relegated from the Premier League after defeat at Crystal Palace on Saturday. The consortium led by Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner Boehly has won the battle to buy Chelsea in a £4.25 billion ($5.2 billion) deal.

Roman Abramovich put the west London club on the market in early March.

Boehly’s consortium includes a fellow co-owner of the Dodgers baseball franchise, Mark Walter, Swiss billionaire Hansjoerg Wyss and US investment firm Clearlake Capital. They still need

to satisfy the Premier League’s owners’ and directors’ test and gain approval from the UK government, but Chelsea expect the sale to be completed by the end of the month.

But Tuchel’s third-placed team was unable to celebrate the deal with a victory as they squandered an opportunity to move closer to qualifying for next season’s Champions League via a top-four finish.

Romelu Lukaku, who has endured a wretched season following his £97 million club record move from Inter Milan, converted a Var-awarded penalty after he was fouled by Romain Saiss in the 56th minute. The Chelsea striker followed his first Premier League goal since December 29 with another two minutes later.

But Wolves forward Francisco Trincao set up a tense finish when he hammered home from the edge of the area in the 79th minute. And Chelsea cracked deep into stoppage time as Conor Coady nodded a closerange equaliser to leave Boehly shaking his head in frustration.