Chelsea lost in the Premier League for the second time in four days as Pedro Neto scored in the fifth minute of stoppage time to earn Wolves a 2-1 win on Tuesday (Wednesday NZT).
Arriving at Molineux on the back of a 1-0 defeat at Everton, Chelsea missed the chance to move into first place in the standings despite taking the lead through Olivier Giroud in the 49th minute.
Daniel Podence equalised off a deflected shot in the 66th minute and fellow Portugal international Neto completed the turnaround when he was played in down the left on a Wolves counter-attack before driving a low finish past Edoaurd Mendy and into the bottom corner.
Chelsea have lost two straight games after going on a 17-match unbeaten run in all competitions.
Even with the return of US winger Christian Pulisic – back from his latest injury setback and making just his third start in the league this season – Chelsea struggled to create many clear-cut chances and only went ahead in slightly fortunate circumstances.
Giroud’s volley from a left-wing cross from Ben Chilwell went straight at Rui Patricio – only for the Wolves goalkeeper to carry it inadvertently over his own line. The referee only belatedly awarded the goal after being given a signal on his watch that the ball had crossed the line.
It was Giroud’s seventh goal in his past seven games in all competitions.
Wolves are known for being a team who play better in the second half and so it proved against Chelsea, with Podence equalising after a fine piece of skill.
He produced a couple of feints to leave two Chelsea defenders wrong-footed, before unleashing a shot with little back-lift that took a slight deflection off Reece James and beat Mendy at his near post in the 66th minute.
Chelsea escaped conceding a penalty in the 81st minute after a spot kick was awarded when Neto tumbled under a challenge from James. The decision was overturned after replays showed James didn’t touch Neto.
Neto complained bitterly but had the last laugh with his goal after Chelsea’s players poured forward looking for a winner.
Owen Otasowie, a 19-year-old New York-born midfielder who made his senior debut for the United States last month, came on at halftime for Wolves for his Premier League debut. He has been at Wolves since joining the academy in 2017.
