Date: Saturday 8th
April 2023
Venue: Molineux Stadium
Kick-off: 15:00 BST
It’s a funny
old game.
We went
from the perplexed Potter, to the bewildered Bruno and thankfully progressed to
Frank Lampard towards the end of another eventful week at Chelsea FC.
For his
first game as our caretaker manager, Frank takes us to Molineux to face a
relegation battling Wolves. Wolves sit 14th and whilst we haven’t
finished in the bottom half of the table since 1995-96, our ongoing poor form
sees us in 11th place going into today’s game.
We come
into the game after a 0-0 against Liverpool on Tuesday night, in yet another
game of unbelievably wasted chances. Our confidence in front of goal looks shot
to pieces as player after player seems to have been struck down with direction
dyslexia, so any hopes of us replicating the 3-0 against them at Stamford
Bridge in October are probably a bit of a stretch.
Wolves,
who come into today’s game off the back of a 1-1 draw against Forest last
weekend, have shipped plenty of goals this season and they’ve failed to score
in four of their last six meetings with us. They turn up against the sides
above them in the table though, winning their last three at home in that
position, so we can expect a proper game.
The return
of Frank Lampard of course, is very welcome, but whilst it lifted many of us
from the minute it was announced, the squad might take a little longer. He doesn’t
have a magic wand and he won’t sh*t miracles, but he’ll turn up, with a passion
and a love for Chelsea FC, that just might be infectious enough to liven up that
dressing room and put a bit of pride back into wearing the shirt.
MANAGER’S VIEWS
Going into
today’s game, Wolves manager, Julen Lopetegui, says “We don’t know if they
are going to change anything or not. That’s why we put the focus on our daily
work. We have seen the last matches of Chelsea, we know the quality of Frank
Lampard.
I’m sorry for
Potter but welcome Frank, this is football. It’s not easy to find one better
squad than Chelsea’s, they have a lot of big players with quality. We have to
be ready for that. We have to put the focus on our team. I cannot lose a lot of
time thinking about what’s going to happen. If you want to play in these matches
you have to be close to perfection. Each little detail is going to be key.”
Chelsea’s latest manager sacking meanwhile, sees Frank Lampard
return for an interim stint this time, and he says “In terms of targets we want to win as many games as we can. I
think there are big games ahead of us. Premier League is hard, Champions League
is of course hard. We have to have a belief in the players we have in this
squad. I’ve got a huge belief in them from the outside and I’ll tell them that
today. It’s how we can take them in the right direction and of course we want
to win games.
I watched the team, so credit to Bruno who took the team, credit to
Graham Potter who I don’t know that well but everything I see about him, he’s a
good man and a very good coach and sometimes for whatever reason things don’t
align, don’t work, whatever; I’ve been in that situation personally. There’s
nothing that I will do that will look backwards other than with a view to how
we move forward. I obviously have my own ideas.”
SQUAD NEWS
For Wolves, Sasa Kalajdzic, Chiquinho
(both knee) and Hwang Hee-chan (unspecified) are injured, whilst Ruben Neves and
Jonny Castro are suspended. Hugo Bueno (hamstring) is available.
For Chelsea,
Armando Broja (ACL), Thiago Silva (knee), and Cesar Azpilicueta (knee) remain out.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (back) is a doubt.
TEAMS
WOLVES (Possible line-up): Sa; Semedo, Dawson, Kilman, Bueno; Lemina, Neves, Nunes; A. Traore,
Jimenez, Podence
CHELSEA (Possible line-up): Kepa; James, Fofana, Badiashile, Chilwell; Kovacic, Kante, Enzo, Mount; Felix,
Havertz
LAST SEASON
Wolves 0-0 Chelsea (19th
Dec 2021)
FORM (PL)
WOLVES: DLWLLD
CHELSEA: LWWDLD
OTHER STUFF
- Wolves’ 3 Premier League wins against Chelsea have all
been at Molineux.
- Chelsea have only won four of their past 20 Premier
League games.
- Wolves are without a win in four Premier League
meetings.
- Frank Lampard has lost 39 Premier League matches as
a manager, two more than he has won.
- Wolves have only managed one win and five points in
their last seven league games.
- Chelsea could go three successive league games
without scoring for the first time since 2007.
- Wolves have conceded 42 league goals in 2022-23.
- Chelsea have scored 29 goals in as many top-flight games
this season.
- Wolves are looking for four successive Premier
League home wins against sides starting the day above them in the table for the
first time.
PREDICTION
Sportsmole: Wolves 0-1 Chelsea
