May 08, (THEWILL) – On Saturday afternoon, a quick Romelu Lukaku brace was not enough to give Chelsea victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers, as two late goals from the visitors sealed a 2-2 draw.
After Thomas Tuchel’s men had largely dominated proceedings to make a bad run of form seem like a distant memory, strikes from Trincao and Conor Coady, won the visitors a point.
The hosts showed no indications of being hampered by their current goal drought, starting brightly, showing confidence moving forward, and causing issues for the Hornets, who were without manager Bruno Lage due to COVID-19.
Timo Werner might have started celebrating in front of the Wolves fans had it not been for Jose Sa’s fast reflexes and strong hand in the first ten minutes, while Lukaku was denied by a recovering Romain Saiss inside the Wolves penalty area shortly after.
The visitors, on the other hand, grew into the game and could have taken the lead in the 23rd minute when Saiss stooped to head Joao Moutinho’s free kick from a few yards out over the bar.
Chelsea had the ball in the back of the net twice in short succession after the half-hour mark, after what had become a more evenly weighted clash.
Werner was denied a great goal when he was incorrectly deemed to have fouled Saiss in the build-up, while Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s sloppy effort was called off after being seen in an offside position.
By the time Peter Bankes blew for halftime, those rapid disallowed goals seemed to inject some life into the game, as both teams missed chances to break the deadlock.
After latching onto Pedro Neto’s rebounded effort, Leander Dendoncker blasted high and wide with the goal at his mercy, then Rayan Ait-Nouri scuffed an effort wide of the goal for the visitors, in between which Sa saved excellently to deny Lukaku a much-needed goal.
However, the Chelsea striker would not have to wait long.
Following a brief VAR check that sent Bankes to the on-field monitor ten minutes after the restart, the hosts were awarded a penalty when Sa made yet another fantastic save to deny Werner.
Saiss was sloppy in bringing Lukaku down with an avoidable tangle of legs, allowing the Belgian to take responsibility and tuck the penalty away with ease.
The Blues had the wind in their sails and increased their lead just a few minutes later, with the crowd revved up. Christian Pulisic pounced on a botched pass and provided a lovely ball to Lukaku, who made no mistake in securing a brace with a brilliant finish into the bottom corner from just beyond the area.
The Blues appeared to have taken complete control of the game after that, but substitute Trincao had other plans. To set up a tense last ten minutes, the Portuguese received a pass from fellow substitute Chiquinho and drove towards goal, firing a terrifying strike into Edouard Mendy’s top corner.
Chelsea found themselves on the ropes as the game neared its end, and would have conceded a second if Trincao’s poor finish to a good move had not been made.
However, that crucial equaliser arrived in the most dramatic fashion. With the clock approaching the seventh minute of stoppage time, it appeared inevitable that Coady would get his head on Chiquinho’s cross and direct the ball into the net, causing frenzy in the away section.
Chelsea’s winless streak in the Premier League now stands at three games, while Wolves avoid a fourth consecutive defeat in the league.
Chelsea’s third place in the Premier League rankings is under threat with these results especially with Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur chasing behind. The greatest weakness for the Blues this season has been dropping points from winning positions.
Only Newcastle United and Southampton have made dropped more than Chelsea this season.
Wolves remain in ninth place after another strong performance. They are presently only two points behind West Ham United in seventh place and a berth in the Europa Conference League.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
