English Premier League Champions Chelsea were given a run for the money by un-fancied Wolves at Stamford Bridge in the first half, but the Blues did manage to impose their superiority and ended the first half at 1-0. Wolves unlike most of the newly promoted
teams did not sit back, and attacked Chelsea at every given opportunity. However there was enough quality in Chelsea ranks to withstand the pressure and did end the half with an upper hand.
Chelsea Manager Carlo Ancelotti was pleased to have his ace striker Didier Drogba back in the starting line up. Drogba has been missing in action due to a viral infection. Right-back Jose Bosingwa was also finally fit after being out for more than a year
due to a knee problem. Yuri Zhirkov was kept in midfield after a good show in the Champions League where he scored his first Chelsea goal.
As the action on the pitch started, surprisingly it was the away team that make all the play. Wolves had a couple of early corners at Chelsea, but the height advantage of Chelsea’s defence looked evident in the set pieces.
Chelsea soon got their hands on the ball and started a brilliant counter attack, Marcus Hahnemann was forced into a desperate save, he deflected Jose Bosingwa's right-foot drive from 12 yards wide after some great work from Didier Drogba.
Wolves though were showing no signs of being intimidated; it was another nice patient build-up down the right for Wolves against Chelsea. The cross came in from Matt Jarvis, but David Edwards saw his header from eight yards saved easily by Petr Cech.
After some half chances for Wolves, Chelsea finally had their say in the game and the champions actually make it look too darn easy as they took the lead. Nicolas Anelka attacked with menace on the left just outside the box and he played in Yuri Zhirkov,
the Russian pulled back falling on the penalty spot but Florent Malouda wa son spot and rifled it home for the lead.
One would have thought that after conceding at Stamford Bridge Wolves would stop being so adventurous, but McMcarthy’s team continued to attack. At the end of first half score remained 1-0 for Chelsea, but in truth it was the visiting team that had made
more chances and had more shots on and off target. However the most important stat that counts is number of goals, and the Champions got the better of Wolves in that aspect. Chelsea may look to put the game to bed in the 2nd half, and if Wolves
continue to attack Chelsea may get more chances.
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