We look ahead to Saturday’s Premier League game at Stamford Bridge between Chelsea and Wolves with our prediction and preview.
Chelsea are expected to win comfortably, with Enzo Maresca’s side winning across 73.2% of the Opta supercomputer’s pre-match simulations.
Wolves have picked up just two points in 10 Premier League games this season (D2 L8). Every single Premier League side with two or fewer points at this stage have then been relegated.
Coming into MD11, Chelsea have spent just 14.4% of their Premier League matches this season in a losing game state, with only Crystal Palace (14.2%) spending a lower portion of their games losing. By contrast, opponents Wolves have spent 59.1% of their games losing, the most of any team.
Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca said his young Chelsea squad had to “grow up” after they nearly gave up a three-goal lead when defeating Wolves in the EFL Cup just over a week ago, with Liam Delap receiving the club’s sixth red card in the space of nine games when appearing from the bench.
In their very next game, the Blues put in one of their greatest – and most mature – performances under the Italian coach to date, restricting Tottenham Hotspur to just 0.10 expected goals (xG) while putting up a total of 3.68 themselves.
Their midfield trio of Reece James, Moisés Caicedo and Enzo Fernández dominated the game with high-quality technical play and fluid movement in possession, with Caicedo starring from a defensive viewpoint too, dispossessing two players before assisting João Pedro’s winner.
It’s a midfield that can undoubtedly go toe-to-toe with the best in the world, and the team’s performance as a whole showcased the high potential of this side when Maresca’s approach clicks.
They followed that win up with a frustrating draw in Azerbaijan against Qarabag FK in the UEFA Champions League, but given they put out a much-changed XI and had to deal with a four-hour time difference, heavy critique can probably be avoided.
They now face Wolves once again, this time in the Premier League, but there has been a great deal of change for their opponents in the intervening period.
Wolves sacked manager Vítor Pereira after a 3-0 defeat away to Fulham last weekend left them at the foot of the Premier League table with just two points from 10 matches.
Every single Premier League side with two or fewer points at this stage have then been relegated – Man City in 1995-96 (2), Sunderland in 2016-17 (2), Sheffield United in 2020-21 (1) and 2023-24 (1), and Norwich in 2021-22 (2).
Teams with 2- points after 10 games Premier League
After the sacking of Pereira, the club also elected to remove their head of professional football, Domenico Teti, and the uncertainty off the field is unlikely to help boost their ineffective on-field performance.
Wolves have spent 59.1% of their games in the Premier League in a losing game state, the most of any team in the division.
By contrast, Chelsea have trailed for just 14.4% of their matches, the second lowest figure of any side, behind Crystal Palace (14.2%).
Game States in Premier League 2025-26
Wolves’ winless run actually exceeds this season; they have gone 14 Premier League games without a victory (D3 L11), having won six in a row beforehand. Only once have they gone 15 top-flight matches without a win when having not been relegated in between that run, doing so between January and August 1970 (16).
One avenue of attack for Wolves in this game could be from set-plays. Chelsea have conceded 6.1 xG from set-pieces (excluding penalties) in the Premier League this season, the most of any side.
But Chelsea are likely to be dangerous themselves. They have scored the second-most goals from set-pieces (excluding penalties) in the Premier League this season (8), behind Arsenal (10).
And Wolves tend to present a lot of dead-ball opportunities to opponents – only Fulham (140) have conceded more fouls in the Premier League this season than them (134).
With Delap still returning to fitness, João Pedro will be expected to lead the line once again.
His next game will be his 100th in the competition, becoming the 31st Brazilian to hit that total – the only non-British nations with more are France (59), Republic of Ireland (56) and Spain (40).
He has been involved in six goals in his last nine Premier League appearances (3 goals, 3 assists) for Chelsea.
Chelsea will continue to be without long-term absentees Cole Palmer and Levi Colwill, while Pedro Neto is at risk of missing out against his former club, having missed the game against Qarabag with a ‘small issue’.
Roméo Lavia was forced off with an injury to his quad after just eight minutes against Qarabag, with Caicedo filling in despite being due a rest.
Emmanuel Agbadou was sent off for Wolves against Fulham and is therefore suspended for this match, while the club will also miss Matt Doherty and Rodrigo Gomes.
After losing three consecutive Premier League games against Wolves between April 2023 and February 2024, Chelsea won both meetings last season by an aggregate score of 9-3.
Wolves have won just one of their 11 Premier League away games against Chelsea (D3 L7), picking up a 4-2 victory in February 2024.
Chelsea have scored five or more goals in four different Premier League games against Wolves, including a 6-2 win at Molineux last season. Against no side have the Blues done so more in the competition, while it’s also the most Wolves have conceded five or more goals against an opponent.
Chelsea vs Wolves Prediction
Chelsea are deemed heavy favourites for this encounter by the Opta supercomputer, winning 73.2% of the 10,000 simulations. Wolves produced a shock victory in 11.3% of sims, while the chance of a draw comes in at 15.5%.
Chelsea vs Wolves Prediction
Chelsea vs Wolves Predicted Lineups
Chelsea: Robert Sánchez, Malo Gusto, Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella, Reece James, Moisés Caicedo, Estêvão, Enzo Fernández, Alejandro Garnacho, João Pedro.
Head coach: Enzo Maresca
Wolverhampton Wanderers: Sam Johnstone, Ki-Jana Hoever, Santiago Bueno, Yerson Mosquera, Toti Gomes, Hugo Bueno, Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, Ladislav Krejcí, Marshall Munetsi, Jørgen Strand Larsen, Jhon Arias.
Head coach: James Collins (interim)
Opta Power Rankings
The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system. They assign an ability score to over 15,000 domestic football teams. This score is on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.
Ahead of kick-off this weekend at Stamford Bridge, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.
Premier League Stats Opta
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