Goals from Mario Lemina and Matt Doherty earned Wolves a 2-1 win over Chelsea in the first Premier League fixture played on Christmas Eve since 1995.
Wolves earned an important three points to move level on points with their beaten opponents, as Chelsea’s disappointing campaign continued at Molineux.
Lemina glanced Gary O’Neil’s side ahead from a corner kick, before a loose ball fell for Doherty in stoppage time to seal the win.
Chelsea – who had been wasteful around goal throughout – pulled a goal back in the closing stages through Christopher Nkunku, but fell to an eighth defeat of the Premier League campaign.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side will spend Christmas Day 10th in the table, 14 points adrift of the Champions League places. The West Londoners have lost four consecutive away games in the league, while no team has now lost more Premier League games than Chelsea (19) in 2023.
“We feel very disappointed because I think we deserve much more. This competition wounds you when you are not clinical enough. We created chances. That is why it is so disappointing. We conceded after a few corners and it was really difficult,” Pochettino reflected to Sky Sports.
“We were talking a lot at the beginning of the season. We are young in age. It is a young team. We have players playing for the first time in the league. They need to adapt. It is confidence and about quality.
“We need to score if we want to win the games. We are very disappointed. Sometimes we have to keep a clean sheet if we cannot score. We conceded too many corners. We need to keep going and pushing. Young teams learn from this sort of game.”
