FROM STAMFORD BRIDGE – Chelsea won their first Premier League title of 2025 with a 3-1 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Monday night.
The Blues predictably dominated their struggling visitors, taking a deserved lead through Tosin Adarabuioyo midway through the first half.
Wolves played on the seeds of doubt that Chelsea’s poor form had been sown, with Matt Doherty capitalizing on Roberto Sanchez’s error on the stroke of half-time.
A brace of goals from Marco Cucurella and Noni Madueke shortly after the hour mark calmed the slightly growing sense of tension at Stamford Bridge as the Blues held on for the three points that lift them above Manchester City and back into the Championship Premier Leaguethe first four.
How the match unfolded
Enzo Maresca has described managing Chelsea in January as a “disaster” due to the endless whirlwind transfer speculations. The results have not eased that pressure, with the Blues winless in five league games heading into Monday night’s game.
A bright start quickly banished memories of that poor form. Cole Palmer wreaked havoc on his toes between the lines, both wings took a beating from their opposite backs and Marc Cucurella spun around with his signature sense of reckless abandon. However, it was Wolves who gifted Chelsea their breakthrough.
A rude misunderstanding between Matt Doherty and Jose Sa, minds seared by the daily stress hanging over the relegation-fighting club, almost put the ball into their own net. The guests escaped with a corner, which nevertheless led to the opening goal.
In the second phase of that set, Reece James’ deflected shot deflected slightly into the middle of Tosin Adarabio. Fresh from a struggled last weekend against Morecambethe newly productive central defender kept his composure and scored the first goal under Saa in the 24th minute.
If Chelsea’s first strike came with a helping hand, Wolves’ equalizer might as well have been bow-wrapped. Robert Sanchez fouled Matheus Cunha’s corner in first-half stoppage time, sending the ball straight into the path of a grateful Doherty, who made amends for his earlier error by slotting in to equalise.
The Blues regrouped at the break, storming back into the second half with a skewed monopoly of possession and chances defining the opening 45 minutes.
Cucurella eventually made that dominance count on the hour mark, finishing off a quick zig-zag move with a crisp effort just inside the far post before Wolves could even score in the second half. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall pounced on Noni Madueke’s cross and then Cucurello who, like his full-back counterpart Tosino, fired into the bottom corner.
Barely five minutes had passed before Chelsea doubled their lead. The returning Trevoh Chalobah towered over a crowd of gold shirts to tip Palmer’s free-kick into the turf. Before the ball could nestle in the net, completing a hat-trick of defensive goalscorers for the Blues, Madueke crept up and nodded Chelseais a third of the evening over the line.
There was a collective sense of relaxation from the Blues during the closing stages, allowing Wolves to maintain the illusion that they were still in the competition. However, Chelsea eventually got a much-needed win that put the pressure back on their opponents, who sit above the relegation zone on goal difference alone.
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“This place is s***.” That was Madueke’s short and sharp assessment of Wolverhampton as a city on social media before blaring into hat-trick against Wanderers back in August. The England international apologized for the hastily deleted post, but had no reason to regret his impressive contribution against the same opposition once again.
Madueke had his way with Rayan Ait-Nouri so often and strongly during the first 20 minutes that Pereira took an unorthodox approach by switching his full-backs. Nelson Semedo had more success against the crafty left foot, but as soon as he gave Madueke more than a whisper of space, the headband-wearing forward swung in a cross that led to Cucurella’s goal for the lead.
Maresca has questioned Madueke’s work pace occasionally this season, but the forward showed plenty of desire to steal a goal from Chalobah, nodding in from close range before celebrating directly in front of the away fans who now had another reason to dislike the winger.
Wolves boss Pereira described Cunha as a player who can “take the rabbit and the magic of a moment on the pitch and create something special”. Reece James was tasked with solving the Brazilian scam and he did so by turning the match into a physical attack.
Wherever Cunha wandered, James’ bulky shoulder was never far away. At one point midway through the second half, Wolves’ talismanic forward wandered all the way to the center circle to escape his chief jailer, but the Blues captain materialized to (fairly) push him to the turf.
There will be those who will argue that Cunha wasn’t himself while he spent the week recovering from an illness, but James’ entire career has essentially been one long comeback from injury. The Stamford Bridge crowd certainly appreciated their captain, giving the right-back a standing ovation as he ran for the final 15 minutes.
The speed of Trevoh Chalobah’s return to the Chelsea first team was so incredibly quick that he recalled borrower he didn’t even make a schedule of matches for the visit of Wolves.
Maresca insisted Chalobah, who spent almost two decades through the Blues’ academy, only joined Crystal Palace this summer to comply with the club’s Financial Fair Play requirements. After a bunch of defensive injuries, “the best solution was to bring Trevo back,” as the Italian explained.
Cheers for Chalobah’s first challenge rang out around Stamford Bridge on Monday, giving way to the spontaneous popping of the returning defender’s name. The 25-year-old made so many subsequent interventions that the shouts of approval were no longer just sentimental, but fully deserved.
It was an almost fairytale comeback for Chalobah, whose header deflected off Sa and over the line before Madueke latched onto the ball with his headband.
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