Chelsea have gone four points clear at the Premier League summit after beating Wolves 2-0 at Molineux.
Blues go four points clear at top with Molineux success
Chelsea have gone four points clear at the Premier League summit after beating Wolves 2-0 at Molineux.
Didier Drogba took his tally to 25 goals this season with a brace but the plaudits will go to Petr Cech for his performance between the sticks as he made two stunning saves to deny the relegation battling Wanderers.
Yuri Zhirkov, starting at left-back in the absence of Ashley Cole, shrugged off a calf complaint early in the match to help Chelsea take the lead through a well-constructed goal which saw the Russian tee up Drogba for one of his easiest goals of the season.
Wolves, who were unable to build on their success against Tottenham in their last league outing, carved out several great chances but the West Midlands outfit caught Cech in inspired form and the Czech shot-stopper even turned provider as his long punt forward set up Drogba to score his second of the afternoon and seal the three points.
The result sees Carlo Ancelotti's side steal a march in the title race after Manchester United fell to a 3-1 lunchtime defeat at Everton to give the Blues the perfect boost ahead of their all-important midweek trip to Inter Milan in the UEFA Champions League.
Second gear
Chelsea barely moved out of second gear for long periods ahead of Wednesday's European clash at the San Siro and the Blues were quickly in the ascendancy as Michael Ballack had the first chance of the game.
Zhirkov sent over a threatening cross from the left flank and Ballack got up well in the danger area but directed his header wide.
Doyle, Wolves' best player once again, produced the first save of the game out of Cech after 15 minutes.
The Republic of Ireland international made space for himself after a diagonal run and Cech had to go down to his right to save his 20-yard drive.
Doyle then flicked the ball into the path of the overlapping Kevin Foley but his shot from a narrow angle flew into the side-netting.
Doyle was causing problems for Chelsea and he was alert to a quick throw from Foley and forced Cech to parry his shot around the post.
Ballack was only just too high with a rasping volley after a corner from Florent Malouda was only half-cleared.
Jones, who had scored the winner against Spurs 10 days ago, curled a free-kick just wide as Wolves started to grow in confidence.
Breakthrough
But five minutes before the interval, Chelsea took the lead through Drogba.
Zhirkov played a one-two with Ballack before squaring a low ball across the six-yard box and Drogba had the easiest of tap-ins.
Cech produced a superb reflex save to protect Chelsea's lead after 55 minutes.
Adlene Guedioura timed his run perfectly to connect with a far-post cross from Jarvis but his fierce volley was somehow kept out by the Chelsea keeper.
Ancelotti made his first change a minute later with Zhirkov replaced by Jeffrey Bruma.
The home side tried to get a foothold in the game and Cech produced another splendid stop to deny Foley an equaliser.
Terry had completely missed the ball when attempting to clear and Foley found himself with only Cech to beat but he managed to block his fierce shot.
Napping
Ballack became the first player to be yellow-carded for dissent as the Blues looked rattled.
But then Drogba doubled Chelsea's lead as Wolves were caught napping by a long clearance from Cech.
Drogba was the first to react and took the ball away from Christophe Berra before clipping the ball wide of Marcus Hahnemann.
McCarthy made a triple substitution with Jarvis, Foley and Jones making way for Geoffrey Mujangi Bia, Greg Halford and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake.
Doyle was only just off target for Wolves with a shot on the turn after some typical aggression.
But it needed a good tackle from Ronald Zubar to deny Anelka a third goal as he bore down on the Wolves goal.
Terry cleared the ball off the line in a late Wolves rally after Cech had failed to gather a long throw from Halford as Wolves were denied a late consolation goal and Chelsea wrapped up the comfortable win.
| Wolverhampton Wanderers |
Team Statistics |
Chelsea |
| 0 |
Goals |
2 |
| 0 |
1st Half Goals |
1 |
| 5 |
Shots on Target |
2 |
| 6 |
Shots off Target |
5 |
| 2 |
Blocked Shots |
1 |
| 1 |
Corners |
5 |
| 12 |
Fouls |
14 |
| 1 |
Offsides |
1 |
| 0 |
Yellow Cards |
1 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 67.5 |
Passing Success |
75.7 |
| 12 |
Tackles |
18 |
| 83.3 |
Tackles Success |
88.9 |
| 41.9 |
Possession |
58.1 |
| 48.2 |
Territorial Advantage |
51.8 |
|
