Always Wolves
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Chelsea Preview Wolves by Always Wolves 8 minutes ago
MATCH PREVIEW: WOLVES V CHELSEA
watch for our thoughts on today's press conference ahead of wolves v chelsea
TEAM NEWS
Chelsea face Wolves on Saturday with fresh injury concerns. Enzo Maresca awaits assessment on Romeo Lavia’s quadricep injury after he came off eight minutes into the 2-2 draw with Qarabag; Lavia is ruled out. Pedro Neto will be assessed after missing the Baku trip as a precaution. Cole Palmer, Benoit Badiashile, Dario Essugo, and Levi Colwill remain sidelined. Joao Pedro, Enzo Fernandez, and Moises Caicedo are playing through injuries.
Wolves will be without Rodrigo Gomes until the new year following groin surgery. Matt Doherty is also unavailable
JAMES COLLINS' PRESS CONFERENCE
On team news: “We’ve got a couple of injuries. Matt Doherty is injured, and so is Rodrigo Gomes. The rest are fully available. We might get a couple of young boys around the group and make our decisions from there.”
Collins believes “this group has been tinkered” with so often that it has lost its “continuity and shape”, but said that establishing those elements is now the new manager’s job to “work out and implement”.
On the club’s chances of avoiding relegation: “I told the players on the first day – when you’re in it, you feel like you are listening to the outside noise. But there are 28 games to go, nearly 90 points to play for, and if you listen to everybody out there, it’s like Wolves are down. I don’t see it that way. We just need to put some results together. It starts now – 28 games to go and let’s get some points.”
Collins revealed that the message from the board is that he will be “taking the game this weekend”, but said he is unsure how long that arrangement will last, adding that his “focus is on the team and our week’s work”.
On former manager Vitor Pereira: “Vitor and his staff were brilliant with me. They welcomed us to watch training, they welcomed us to be around it, they welcomed us into meetings. They were enthusiastic about the under-21s and getting players through. I can’t speak highly enough of them. They were brilliant people and good coaches. Sometimes in football, it is dictated by results. In the end, if you keep losing, you lose your job. They understand that, but they did their job diligently. Great people and they treated me with great respect. I wish them well.”
Collins also said he has held conversations with players and coaching staff, explaining that “you have to take the bits from that” and use them to improve the team. However, he reiterated that “you can’t do everything in a week”, so his priority has been to ensure that “at least three or four main principles are added to their week”.
On his hopes for this weekend’s match at Chelsea: “We were determined it’s not a week’s holiday and a new manager comes in. We had to make sure that we prepared properly for the game this weekend. It’s a Premier League game that can be won. That was the message to the players and they’ve responded brilliantly. They’ve been unbelievably receptive to what we’ve done with them.”
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 5+ goals in four different Premier League games against Wolves, including a 6-2 win at Molineux last season. Against so side have the Blues done so more in the competition, while it’s also the most Wolves have conceded 5+ against an opponent.
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 – 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).
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.
Wolves 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 having not been relegated in between that run, doing so between January and August 1970 (16).
Enzo Maresca has faced teams whose first name begins with ‘W’ on 10 occasions in English football in all competitions with Leicester and Chelsea and he has won all 10 matches, seeing the Foxes and the Blues score a total of 31 goals in those victories; they’ve come against Watford (2), West Brom (2), West Ham (3), and Wolves (3).
Chelsea have conceded 6.1 xG from set pieces (excl. pens) in the Premier League this season, the most of any side. By contrast, they’ve only faced 62 shots in open play, with only Arsenal (53) conceding fewer in 2025-26.
Only Fulham (140) have conceded more fouls in the Premier League this season than Wolves (134), with midfielder João Gomes conceding the third-most of any player in the division (21). Since his debut in February 2023, Gomes has committed the most fouls (174) and received the most yellow cards (28) in the competition.
João Pedro has been involved in six goals in his last nine Premier League appearances (3 goals, 3 assists) for Chelsea. 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).
FORM GUIDE (ALL COMPETITIONS)
Referee: Andrew Kitchen. Assistants: Adrian Holmes, Wade Smith. Fourth official: Anthony Taylor. VAR: Darren England. Assistant VAR: Craig Taylor.
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