Wolves 1-0 Chelsea: Nunes stunner hands Lampard defeat on miserable return

Chelsea suffered a 1-0 loss against Wolves in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon.

Frank Lampard took charge of his first game as caretaker manager as the Blues travelled to Molineux but it was a disappointing result.

In the first half, it looked as though the visitors had got off to a good start, but it was the hosts who started to take control of the contest.

The warning signs were there for Chelsea, but they failed to react to them, and in the 31st minute they were punished. Matheus Nunes thumped home a superb strike to put the home side into the lead.

There was no real response from the visitors before the half-time break and they went into the interval a goal down.

In the second 45, Chelsea started with their best spell of the game. They took up some dangerous positions, but were still unable to significantly test Jose Sa.

Despite Lampard’s five substitutions and attempts to impact the game, the Blues could not find an equaliser, and walked away from this game with nothing.

In Lampard’s first game back in charge of the Blues he made two changes to the side that drew 0-0 with Liverpool on Tuesday night. Both Conor Gallagher and Raheem Sterling earnt starts as N’Golo Kante and Ben Chilwell were dropped to the bench.

As the game got underway, the visitors were able to get off to a good start, some early corners were forced but they failed to create anything substantial. The travelling fans appreciated the start their team had made, and chanted the name of the legendary midfielder managing from the side-lines.

It was a rather scrappy start to the affair, both sides struggled to create openings, the first shot on target of the match came from Toti Gomes, a header from the centre-back was comfortably dealt with by Kepa Arrizabalaga.

The hosts continued to push from this and went through a good spell just before the 30 minute mark. Mario Lemina had a good strike from the edge of the box deflected wide by Wesley Fofana, minutes before this the French defender had also made a good tackle to deny Wolves a good opportunity.

Chelsea failed to wake up as the home side continued to push forward and eventually the pressure told. Nunes hit a wonderful effort on the volley that flew past Kepa and blasted his team into the lead.

Wolves nearly doubled their lead just five minutes later, former Chelsea striker, Diego Costa, made the most of a mix up at the back but he was denied by his fellow countryman in the net.

Creeping towards half-time, the west London side finally managed to muster their first shot on target in this contest, Joao Felix cut inside and fired a powerful strike but it was straight down the throat of Sa.

It was an underwhelming half from the Blues, very little was created and they headed into the break a goal down to 14th placed Wolves.

In the second half, a better display was needed, and in the opening ten minutes of the second 45 they managed to step up their level of performance. The Blues were playing at a greater pace and energy.

In the 55th minute, the visitors felt they should have had a penalty. Felix, who had begun to grow into the game saw his shot blocked by Joao Gomes, the Portuguese forward felt it struck the hand of the Wolves midfielder, but after a lengthy VAR check nothing was given.

Lampard opted to turn to his bench for the first time in the 60th minute, brining on Christian Pulisic for Kai Havertz. Moments later, there was a triple substitution made, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Mykhailo Mudryk and Ben Chilwell all introduced.

Chelsea would have hoped to build on their good start to the half, but they were unable to create anything that caused problems for Wolves.

Ultimately, the Blues were unable to get anything out of this contest and extended their run without a win in the Premier League to four games.

With a clash coming up against Real Madrid on Wednesday night in the Champions League, Chelsea will have to considerably improve if they want to come away with anything from that contest.