Cucurella and Madueke get Chelsea back to winning ways against Wolves
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There were times when Enzo Maresca seemed to have the weight of the world on his shoulders. The Italian mooched around his technical area, bemoaning Chelsea’s frantic play and calling for calm. Panic had set in after another lead was frittered away, shoddy handling from the erratic Robert Sánchez gifting a mediocre Wolves an equaliser at the end of an average first half, and the winless run was in danger of ticking up to six.
However, while Sánchez remains an accident waiting to happen in goal, at least Chelsea had a second half to correct matters against one of the leakiest defences in the Premier League. The nerves faded after Marc Cucurella restored the advantage after an hour. Authority returned and although this was far from Chelsea’s most stylish win of the season, a final score of 3-1 was enough to capitalise on Newcastle’s setback against Bournemouth and see Maresca’s side take fourth place off Manchester City before they visit the champions on Saturday.
A sense of hysteria has gathered around Chelsea in recent weeks. Sustaining performances over 90 minutes has been a struggle, while injuries have bit in key positions, so much so that Maresca was forced into the pragmatism of recalling Trevoh Chalobah from his loan at Crystal Palace.
An outcast no more, the absence of Levi Colwill and Wesley Fofana meant that Chalobah was thrown straight back into the starting lineup and was soon reminding Chelsea’s fans of his qualities, stepping across to deny Jørgen Strand Larsen a shot on goal after Matheus Cunha played the angular Wolves forward through on goal in the sixth minute.