From 0-3 at half time to scare. Chelsea doesn’t know how to finish their game and they nearly let a good win down.
- Wolverhampton 3-4 Chelsea
Chelsea narrowly booked their place in the Carabao Cup quarterfinals after a tense 4-3 win over Wolves. Fielding a heavily rotated side, Enzo Maresca’s men got off to a strong start. Andrey Santos opened the scoring — his first goal for the Blues — before Gittens, electric down the left wing, dazzled the defense to set up Tyrique George for a simple tap-in. Wolves’ defensive errors kept piling up, and one of them gifted Estevão an easy finish to make it 3-0 before halftime.
The second half began quietly for Chelsea, but the visitors were suddenly shaken awake as Wolves struck twice in quick succession, bringing the crowd at Molineux to life. Moments later, substitute Liam Delap — making his first appearance since his injury against Fulham — was sent off for a reckless and needless elbow.
Despite the pressure, Gittens restored calm with a superb fourth goal for Chelsea, curling a beautiful outside-foot shot into the net. Just when it seemed over, Wolves immediately pulled one back from the kickoff to make it 4-3 and set up a nervy finish.
Chelsea ultimately held on to advance, but the performance left plenty of question marks. Tosin’s disastrous display in defense exposed cracks in an already fragile structure — and Maresca will know his side escaped by the skin of their teeth.