The Daily Telegraph - Sport

Wolves bite back Nuno’s team return to form to shock Chelsea

- By Sam Wallace at Molineux

In the end the darkness inevitably envelopes all Chelsea managers but for Maurizio Sarri, after his supercharg­ed start to life in the Premier League, this latest defeat was an early warning that this group of players can take a coach on the crest of a wave, and they can also bring him down.

It was a magnificen­t night for Wolverhamp­ton Wanderers and their manager Nuno Espirito Santo, who dared to be brave in his selection, especially with 18-year-old Morgan Gibbs-white.

The England Under-17 World Cup winner was a revelation, creating the first of Wolves’ two goals that came in a four-minute period when they seized control of the game in a thrilling night at the old ground.

This was the first league start of the season for Gibbs-white, playing in a version of the false nine position which will have been unusual for a convention­ally attacking midfielder, but he did it wonderfull­y well. His pass made the first goal for Raul Jimenez and when, four minutes later, Diego Jota scored the second – his first of the season – Chelsea seemed to crumble under the pressure.

From Sarri there was disbelief at the reaction of his players to the Jimenez goal, before which he said that they had been in total control. “The goal was an accident but then suddenly we were a team without the right distances [to opponents] and without our [style of ] football,” said Sarri. “I don’t know why. I am really very worried about the fact that we didn’t react to the first goal of the game. We didn’t react at all.”

Later when he was asked to turn his thoughts to the visit of Manchester City to Stamford Bridge on Saturday, Sarri said that the leaders, now 10 points better off than his own team, were in “a different category”. He said that they were arguably the best team in the world for now and should have won the Champions League last season were it not for the volatility of a cup competitio­n. But it was how he thought his players might react to this defeat, their second in three games after an unbeaten start, that was the most telling.

“The match [on Saturday] is difficult and after this match [against Wolves] we have lost confidence, but maybe it’s better,” Sarri said. “Because sometime my players show too much confidence.” With that he was up and out of the room and we will have to wait for Friday for him to expand on the answer.

Certainly, he set a high standard early in the season and in recent weeks, starting with the Wembley defeat to Tottenham, Chelsea have struggled to live up to their start. Against Wolves, Sarri gave first league starts of the season to Ruben Loftus-cheek, Cesc Fabregas and Andreas Christense­n and, while they contribute­d, it was in other areas where he will have felt let down.

Alvaro Morata once again looked ill-suited to the intensity of a night like this. He might have had a penalty for a foul by Willy Boly at the start of the second half.

Willian was culpable in the buildup to Wolves’ winner and questions will also be asked of goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabala­ga. Loftus-cheek, who scored on his first Chelsea league start since April 2016, was the one bright spot for Sarri.

Chelsea could not handle the second-half intensity of Wolves, who were without the suspended Ruben Neves. Nuno said afterwards that he was most pleased with the way in which his team kept their shape for the long periods that they were without the ball, and that Gibbswhite was emblematic of a new era in the English game.

“He [Gibbs-white] is one of the best generation­s of English players in a long time. You have Phil Foden, he’s a world champion, too. He [Gibbs-white] is not an example, he’s the reality – of the fantastic job the national team of England are doing. It is amazing what they are producing.” Gibbs-white gave Wolves a directness and unpredicta­bility in attack where he was given license to run from deep with the ball. Early on, when he dropped a shoulder, went past Fabregas and chopped back inside past Willian, it showed he was up for the task.

Loftus-cheek struck the shot that gave Chelsea the lead – Conor Coady stooped to try to head it away and simply redirected the ball into the near corner. His goalkeeper had no chance. That incident with Boly, a tackle from behind, seemed to be what Morata was contesting with the fourth official when he was inevitably substitute­d later.

For the first goal, Gibbs-white chose the channel for his pass perfectly. Jimenez struck his shot low but it was saveable for Arrizabala­ga. Then Willian was shrugged away by Joao Moutinho near the edge of the Chelsea area. When Matt Doherty struck a fine ball to the far post, it was Jota who was there to finish. Wolves never looked back.

Wolverhamp­ton Wanderers (3-4-3) Patricio 6; Bennett 7, Coady 6, Boly 6; Doherty 7, Moutinho 7, Saiss 7, Vinagre 7; Jimenez (Dendoncker 81) 7, Gibbs-white (Helder Costa 72) 7, Jota (Cavaleiro 88) 7. Subs Ruddy (g), Hause, Bonatini, Traore. Booked Coady, Vinagre.

Chelsea (4-3-3) Arrizabala­ga 5; Azpilicuet­a 6, Rudiger 6, Christense­n 6, Alonso 6; Kante (Kovacic 77) 6, Fabregas 6, Loftus-cheek 6; Willian (Pedro 65) 4, Morata (Giroud 65) 4, Hazard 5. Subs Caballero (g), Jorginho, Zappacosta, Luiz. Booked Saiss, Willian, Fabregas, Giroud, Alonso, Christense­n.

Referee Jonathan Moss (West Yorkshire).

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 ??  ?? Golden touches: Diego Jota (above) celebrates his winning goal; Morgan Gibbs-white (left) leaps on Raul Jimenez after the Wolves equaliser
Golden touches: Diego Jota (above) celebrates his winning goal; Morgan Gibbs-white (left) leaps on Raul Jimenez after the Wolves equaliser

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