FROM STAMFORD BRIDGE – Chelsea won their first Premier League title of 2025 with a 3-1 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Monday night.
As expected, the Blues dominated their struggling visitors and deservedly took the lead through Tosin Adarabuioyo midway through the first half.
Wolves capitalized on the doubt sown by Chelsea’s poor form, with Matt Doherty taking advantage of a mistake by Robert Sanchez just before half-time.
A flurry of goals just after the hour from Marc Cucurella and Noni Madueke calmed the slightly rising tension at Stamford Bridge as the Blues maintained their three points, catapulting themselves above Manchester City and back into the top four of the Premier League.
How the game developed
Enzo Maresca described Chelsea’s management in January as a “disaster” amid never-ending transfer speculation. The results have not eased that pressure as the Blues are winless in five league games heading into Monday night’s game.
A brilliant start quickly banished memories of this poor form. Cole Palmer tiptoed around causing havoc between the lines, both wingers were beaten by their opposing full-backs and Marc Cucurella spun around with his trademark sense of reckless abandon. However, it was Wolves who gave Chelsea the breakthrough.
A matter-of-fact miscommunication between Matt Doherty and Jose Sa, whose tempers have been worn down by the everyday stress that hangs over a club hovering towards relegation, almost put the ball in their own net. The guests escaped with a corner, but it still led to the opening goal.
In the second phase of this set piece, Reece James’ deflected shot bounced kindly into the middle of Tosin Adarabioyo. The newly minted centre-back, who scored a brace against Morecambe last weekend, kept his composure and scored the opening goal under Sa in the 24th minute.
If Chelsea’s first goal had come with a helping hand, Wolves’ equalizer might as well have been wrapped with a bow. Robert Sanchez fumbled with a corner from Matheus Cunha in first-half stoppage time and sent the ball straight into the path of the grateful Doherty, who made up for his earlier mistake with a stinging equaliser.
The Blues regrouped at the break and returned in the second half with the one-sided monopoly on possession and chances that had defined the first 45 minutes.
Cucurella finally established his dominance on the hour mark, capping a quick zig-zag move with a deflected shot just off the far post before Wolves had even had a shot in the second half. Noni Madueke’s in-swinging cross was directed by Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall straight into Cucurella’s goal, who, like his defensive colleague Tosin, scored from the bottom corner.
Barely five minutes had passed before Chelsea doubled their lead. The returning Trevoh Chalobah rose above a horde of gold jerseys and hammered Palmer’s free kick into the turf. Before the ball could end up in the net, completing a hat-trick for the Blues’ defensive goalscorers, Madueke snuck in and nodded Chelsea’s third goal of the night over the line.
There was a collective feeling of pulling away from the Blues in the closing stages, allowing Wolves to maintain the illusion of still being in the competition. In the end, however, Chelsea managed a much-needed victory, which once again increased the pressure on their opponents, who are above the relegation zone on goal difference alone.
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“This place sucks.” That was Madueke’s succinct and harsh assessment of Wolverhampton as a city on social media before he scored a hat-trick against Wanderers in August. The England international apologized for his hastily deleted post but had no reason to regret his impressive contribution against the same opponent.
Madueke tackled Rayan Ait-Nouri so frequently and powerfully in the first 20 minutes that Pereira took the unorthodox approach of switching his full-backs. Nelson Semedo had more success against the scheming left-footer, but as soon as he gave Madueke more than a hint of space, the headband-clad striker swung in the cross, resulting in Cucurella’s go-ahead goal.
Maresca has questioned Madueke’s effectiveness at times this season, but the striker showed great desire to steal a goal from Chalobah, nodding in from point-blank range before celebrating right in front of the away fans, who now had another reason not to see the winger to like.
Wolves boss Pereira described Cunha as a player who can “use a rabbit and magic in the moment on the pitch and create something special”. Reece James was tasked with countering the Brazilian’s tricks and turned the duel into a physical slugfest.
Wherever Cunha roamed, James’ massive shoulder was never far away. At some point midway through the second half, Wolves’ talismanic striker drifted all the way into the center circle to escape his head jailer, but the Blues captain popped up to (pretty much) force him to the turf.
Some will argue that Cunha wasn’t quite himself as he spent the week recovering from his illness, but James’ entire career is essentially a comeback from a long injury. The Stamford Bridge crowd certainly appreciated their captain and gave the right-back a standing ovation as he ran away for the final 15 minutes.
Trevoh Chalobah’s return to Chelsea’s first team was so rapid that the recalled loanee was not even on the matchday program for the visit of Wolves.
Maresca insisted Chalobah, who came through the Blues academy for almost two decades, only moved to Crystal Palace this summer to comply with the club’s financial fair play requirements. After a spate of defensive injuries, “the best solution was to bring Trev back,” as the Italian explained.
The cheers for Chalobah’s first challenge on Monday raged around Stamford Bridge, giving way to a spontaneous shout of the returning defender’s name. The 25-year-old subsequently made so many interventions that the applause was no longer just sentimental, but entirely justified.
It was almost a fairytale return for Chalobah, whose header bounced beyond Sa and over the line before Madueke got his headband on the ball.