wolves 2-0

Sunday Times

Didier Drogba dominates as Chelsea go four points clear with a 2-0 victory over Wolves

Wolves 0 Chelsea 2

Paul Rowan

Didier Drogba, for long now the go-to player at Chelsea when the going gets tough, came up trumps again to allow his side to end a difficult week on a high and four points clear of Manchester United at the top of the Premier League.
Drogba had two chances in the game and struck the net twice, a goal in each half killing off the challenge of a Wolves side who had two chances themselves but found Petr Cech equal to both.
Carlo Ancelotti, the Chelsea coach who is pretty sanguine about the off-field controversies that have been besetting his players, will have been delighted with the response after the club’s top brass warned the players about their future conduct.
That was after the indiscretions of two of their England players, John Terry and Ashley Cole. Terry was back from his compassionate leave in Dubai, but Chelsea’s second in command, Frank Lampard, was missing with a virus, forcing Ancelotti to reshuffle his midfield. Florent Malouda came into a central position and Joe Cole was given his first start in four Premier League matches on the left.
Wolves had troubles of their own in midweek, getting a suspended fine from the Premier League for fielding a weakened team at Old Trafford, but if they thought they could exploit Chelsea’s difficulties of late, which appear to have contributed to their indifferent away form, then they were sorely disappointed. Wolves started brightly enough, with Kevin Doyle, Kevin Foley and Matt Jarvis all having half-chances as they pressed forward, but one poor cross from the left contributed to their undoing on 40 minutes.
Cech collected the ball comfortably and bowled it out to John Obi Mikel, who fed Michael Ballack. In a trice, Ballack had played a one-two with the left-back, Yuri Zhirkov, whose perfect low cross into the six-yard box was poked in by the sliding Drogba.
Terry, who was subjected to mild abuse from some Wolves fans, had a few nervy moments in the second half which might have allowed the home side back into the game. On 56 minutes he allowed a deep cross from Jarvis to loop over his head and Adlene Guedioura met the ball at the far post with a firm volley, producing an excellent save from Cech.
Far worse was his botched attempt at a clearance that presented Foley with a chance from close range, but Cech was off his line to smother the shot. Karl Henry appeared to slip as he attempted to slide the ball into an empty net and Terry was able to recover to clear.
Chelsea’s second was again started by Cech and this time the goalkeeper will have an assist to his name. The Wolves defence allowed his long clearance to bounce and Drogba then outmuscled Christophe Berra, pushing the bouncing ball forward and wide of Marcus Hahnemann in the Wolves goal before completing the move with a low shot into the net. Wolves coach Mick McCarthy said: “I’m annoyed. Somebody said, ‘Well done’ and I said, ‘B******ks’. We got beat and we shouldn’t have. We had the game by the scruff of the neck when they got their second goal. It was just a bad piece of defending.”
Ancelotti was able to report afterwards that Lampard, Alex and Ricardo Carvalho will all be available for the midweek Champions League game in Milan against Jose Mourinho’s Inter, at the end of a very pleasing day for the league favourites that started with Manchester United’s defeat at Everton. “We didn’t play particularly well but we showed good spirit and battled for every ball,” said Ancelotti. “The team showed great concentration. We prepared well and it was a very important game after the defeat of Manchester United.”

Wolves: Hahnemann 6, Zubar 6, Craddock 6, Berra 5, Ward 6, Foley 6 (Halford 77min), Henry 6, Jones 7 (Ebanks-Blake 77min), Guedioura 6, Jarvis 6 (Mujangi 77min) Doyle 7

Chelsea: Cech 8, Ferreira 6, Ivanovic 7, Terry 5, Zhirkov 7 (Bruma 56min, 6), Mikel 6, Anelka 6, Ballack 6, Malouda 6, J Cole 6, Drogba 8

Four Play

Chelsea continued their domination of Wolves yesterday. The 2-0 win was their fourth success in the four games the clubs have played in the Premier League. The London side have hit Wolves for 15 goals, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink leading the way with four of them, with just two conceded. Yesterday’s victory was the first time Chelsea had scored fewer than four goals in a Premier League game against the Midlands club. The Molineux side do, however, have the better record in all league matches between the sides, having won 37 to Chelsea’s 36.

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Observer:

Didier Drogba double against Wolves extends Chelsea's lead at the top

Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 Chelsea 2 Drogba 40, Drogba 67

Joe Lovejoy at Molineux

A win is a win, and nobody in the ­Chelsea camp was inclined to quibble over a result which extended their lead at the top of the Premier League to four points, but their performance was barely adequate and they will need to do a lot better when they renew old acquaintance with José Mourinho at San Siro on Wednesday.
Two more goals from Didier Drogba, taking his total for another season of ­pillage and plunder to 25, proved ­decisive, but relegation-threatened Wolves created more chances and would have had a point but for a couple of ­top-notch saves by Peter Cech.
John Terry was back from "compassionate leave" and it seems Ashley Cole may be needing some of the same. If all the tabloid titillation is to be believed, this was a case of the Wolves versus the rutting stags. Blue is the colour in more ways than one these days, and Terry and the injured Cole were both abused throughout with toilet "humour" that was fourth form at best. It is not only certain players who need to grow up.
Personal problems aside, this was a scoreline that might easily have been predicted. Promoted under Dave Jones seven years ago, Wolves enjoyed just one ­season in elite company before sinking back whence they came, and history could well be repeating itself for Mick McCarthy and his goal-shy strugglers.
Despite their moniker, the present Molineux pack are a toothless bunch, having scored just 10 goals in their 14 home games – seven of which have been lost. They drew encouragement from a 1-0 victory over Tottenham last time out, but that was their first win in seven league matches.
Their main difficulty is not hard to identify: they have conceded twice as many goals as they have scored. Kevin Doyle, the £6.5m record summer ­signing from Reading, is currently their most prolific finisher with a modest six goals in 23 league appearances.
Much was expected of Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, who scorched through the Championship with 25 goals last season, but the England Under-21 striker has been a ­significant disappointment, ­scoring only once in 17 appearances at the higher level. Drogba, with 19 goals in 22 league games, has scored only two fewer than the Wolves squad in total.
It's easy to be sniffy about it, but route one football does have its rewards. Chelsea were not exactly impressive against Wolves, but Didier Drogba's double settled the game in their favour. His second goal will not live long in the memory - a long punt from Chelsea's goalkeeper, Petr Cech, that bypassed the Wolves defence and allowed Drogba to settle the encounter after 67 minutes Chelsea may be top of the table by a healthy margin after Manchester ­United's defeat by Everton, but it has not been all hunky-dory at the Bridge of late – on or off the field.
Continued allegations of sexual impropriety by prominent players brought a warning from the owner, Roman Abramovich, and solicitors' letters to certain newspapers on Friday, while on the pitch they had dropped points in five of their previous six away matches.
In all, they have lost four away games, one of which was to Wigan – a result that should have given Wolves grounds for optimism. Ditto the absence of Frank Lampard, with a virus. Lampard was replaced by Joe Cole, making only his 10th start of the season in the league, and whose consequent rustiness is seriously undermining his prospects of selection for the World Cup.
Terry, too, must be a concern for Fabio Capello in this form. Stripped of the England captaincy for reasons that need no repetition here, he is playing as if distracted by the opprobrium that has been heaped upon him, and one attempted clearance, when he missed the ball entirely, would have ended in acute embarrassment but for Cech's face-saving intervention.
Wolves began brightly and "had the game by the scruff of the neck", as Mick McCarthy put it, for nearly the whole of a first half in which Doyle tested Cech from the edge of the D, and again from much closer in. The turning point came in the 40th minute, when the first demonstration of the class Chelsea had hidden under the Molineux bushel saw Yuri Zhirkov and Michael Ballack work a neat one-two to set up Drogba for his first, sliding in at the far post.
Wolves recovered so well that they might have been in front within 25 ­minutes. Instead, Cech distinguished himself with a reaction save to keep out Adlène Guedioura's close-range ­volley, then leapt to the rescue again when ­Terry's "air shot" let in Kevin Foley.
McCarthy was confident of a comeback draw at this stage, but midway through the second half Christophe Berra failed to cut out a long clearance from Cech and Drogba was allowed to run on and take the ball wide of Marcus ­Hahnemann before scoring left-footed, from 12 yards.
McCarthy was "really annoyed" by Berra's defensive lapse. "A poor piece of defending let them in and demoralised all of us so much that we might as well have come off there and then."


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Independent:

Room at the top but McCarthy rues Wolves' missed chances

Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 Chelsea 2

By Steve Tongue at Molineux

For a brief period in each half it looked as if Chelsea might stumble as badly as Manchester United had done earlier in the day on Merseyside. Wolves nudged and then pushed them, huffing and puffing all the while, but the leaders remained on their feet and once Didier Drogba scored his second goal midway through the second half they were able to stroll.
Celebrations at the finish to mark a four-point lead at the top of the table could even have been described as a London knees-up, except that no fewer than five players were missing with knee injuries, as well as Frank Lampard – a rare absentee – and Ashley Cole. So it was a demonstration of depth of squad, something that Wolves cannot hope to match in their first season back in the big league.
Chelsea were even able to rest Ricardo Carvalho, who should return against Internazionale on Wednesday, and bring back a man we must now refer to as a former England captain; John Terry's return after some quality time with the family in a Dubai swimming pool was greeted with much predictable ribaldry from the home crowd, to which he responded with a generally solid performance, twice clearing off the line.
Wolves supporters have to make their own entertainment, for their team are the League's lowest scorers at home. Kevin Doyle worked hard as a lone striker, but sitting opposite the Steve Bull Stand prompted thoughts of what Mick McCarthy would give for a scorer of Bull's quality – if he had the funds. The extra midfield personnel deployed behind Doyle did surprisingly well for over an hour against the seasoned internationals they were up against before class, as it tends to, began to tell.
McCarthy's satisfaction at the performance was diluted by his annoyance at the way that second goal was conceded to a goalkeeper's punt down the middle of the pitch. "We should have got something out of the game," he said. "Chelsea are the champions-elect and we've matched them. We let them off the hook. We were on top and gave them a goal to a really bad, bad piece of defending. It was dire and it demoralised us all so much."
It was true that while Petr Cech could reasonably claim the individual honours ahead of Drogba, Marcus Hahnemann in Wolves' goal had little to do other than pick the ball from his net twice; until half-time his team's efforts were far more threatening than the leaders'. Doyle's doughty run from the touchline to the far side of the penalty area before shooting at Cech typified their endeavour. He then set up Kevin Foley for a shot into the side-netting and saw Cech push his effort for a corner when Foley returned the compliment. Matt Jarvis had a low shot held and David Jones's free-kick did not quite swing sufficiently.
Amid all this, Michael Ballack's volley over the bar was the one uncomfortable moment, so it was all the more cruel that Chelsea should take the lead five minutes before half-time. In a move that flowed all the way from the back, Yuri Zhirkov was involved twice, swapping passes with Ballack and then crossing low to the far post, where Drogba forced himself ahead of Stephen Ward to jab in his 24th goal.
A 25th would follow, though not until after the home side's most convincing spell of the game, in which Adlene Guedioura, on loan from Charleroi, was denied by Cech's fine save and Terry redeemed himself following a miskick by hacking clear, after Cech did well again to beat out Foley's shot. Soon afterwards, more cruelty as Cech became goalmaker. His huge kick downfield caught out Christophe Berra and Drogba was able to run away from him and dribble round to decide the match.
Chelsea's manager, Carlo Ancelotti, confirmed that Lampard, Carvalho and Zhirkov should all be fit for the San Siro. "It will be a fantastic evening in Milan," he promised.

Attendance: 28,978
Referee: Kevin Friend
Man of the match: Cech
Match rating: 6/10

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Mail:

Wolves 0 Chelsea 2:

Deadly Didier Drogba hits double to give boss Carlo Ancelotti a timely lift
By Ian Ridley

Chelsea's players were reminded of what might delicately be called their off-field responsibilities in a midweek meeting commanded by owner Roman Abramovich.
After recent labours away from home, it looked as if they had been reminded equally forcefully of their roles on the pitch by Carlo Ancelotti.
Petr Cech at one end and Didier Drogba at the other were listening, even if skipper John Terry is still cocking a bit of a deaf 'un with his patchy form.
Goalkeeper Cech made some outstanding saves at crucial times, even rescuing his captain, while Drogba's two goals were equally opportune.
Chelsea visited Molineux having won just one of their previous six away games and for almost half the match, as they stuttered and struggled, it was easy to see why those games had yielded just six points - far from the form of champions.
But the excellent Drogba, with his 24th and 25th goals of the season, saved them from embarrassment as they profited from Manchester United's defeat at Everton to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League to four points.
Drogba's brace against an honest but wasteful Wolves was fitting reward for a potent display of leading the line and keeps the Ivory Coast man joint top-scorer in the English game with Wayne Rooney on 25 goals, although the United striker has 21 in the league, compared to Drogba's 19.
'This was an important week,' said Ancelotti, who must have seen victory as a morale-booster ahead of Wednesday's Champions League game in Italy against Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan.
'We wanted to improve our away performances and we stayed in focus. We battled for every ball and we deserved to win.
'We knew that Manchester United had lost and it was an important factor. We have improved our position but we have to pay attention because there are still a lot of games and nothing is decided.'
It was Wolves' fourth consecutive defeat to Chelsea but they were not the soft touch of the previous three meetings that had seen them concede 14 goals. Neither were Chelsea the free-flowing force of those encounters.
Chelsea missed the drive of Frank Lampard, absent with a virus, which meant another start for Joe Cole. He flitted between the left and the attacking point of a midfield diamond, but Chelsea frequently lacked creativity.
Terry continued the error-prone ways he showed in the Everton defeat before his jaunt to Dubai to repair his marriage. Perhaps the taunts from home fans hurt and affect him.
While Wolves were settled, manager Mick McCarthy retaining the side that beat Tottenham last time out, Terry was unsettled by Kevin Doyle buzzing alone up front to great effect. He forced Cech into a save with a shot from the edge of the area and then brought out a good stop from the keeper with another drive.
Chelsea finally assembled a decent passing move five minutes before half time. Yuri Zhirkov, making the left-back position his own in the absence of Ashley Cole, played a neat one-two with Michael Ballack before sending a low cross across the face of goal to give Drogba the simple task of sliding the ball home at the far post.
It was typical of Chelsea, of the Premier League's more talented teams. They had played only moderately but struck in one incisive moment.
Wolves are in the image of the stubborn McCarthy, however, and they might have had an equaliser soon after the restart. Matt Jarvis's deep cross dropped to Adlene Guedioura but he volleyed straight at Cech.
Chelsea were soon indebted to the Czech again. Terry missed a kick horribly and Kevin Foley stole in front of Paulo Ferreira to get in a shot that Cech beat out, but Guedioura was unable to turn in the rebound.
Chelsea promptly added a second, this time via route one to bypass the bobbly surface. From Cech's long punt, Drogba held off Christophe Berra and rounded Marcus Hahnemann before tucking the ball home.
'I'm really annoyed,' said McCarthy. 'We had the game by the scruff of the neck. Cech made two great saves and they were trying to take the sting out of the game. Then we gave them a goal with bad defending.'
He made a triple substitution but the game was gone, Chelsea content to see it out. For a side with so many issues and not playing especially well, they are holding it together remarkably.


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NOTW:

CECH'S GENIUS CAPS IT ALL FOR CARLO

Wolves 0 Chelsea 2

By Andy Dunn

THEY went to celebrate with the man in a skull cap, not the man who had just put clear blue water between his team and their challengers.
They went to the man who needed gloves for work, not the man who wore a pair just to keep warm. They went to Petr Cech - not Didier Drogba.
Because they knew. Not just that his arrowed clearance had set up Drogba's 25th goal of the season.
Not just that his save from Kevin Foley minutes earlier had been like a blow to Wolves' windpipe.
They knew Cech was back. Back to his world-class best.
And Carlo Ancelotti's men know what that means as they arc around the final bend and straighten up for home.
Cech will argue that he has never been away. But that's what a bang on the head can do. Plays games with the memory.
This was the Cech who made a sure-footed entrance to the Premier League almost six years ago. A man who would be the prototype if you were constructing a keeper from scratch.
The importance of the role is blindingly obvious. To all bar Arsene Wenger.
And Cech is re-establishing himself as the best among the elite.
With Ashley Cole resting his broken ankle and John Terry cutting a bemused figure, Cech could be the guy with Chelsea's title fortunes in his hands. And right now, they are safe.
Cech's handling was confident, his distribution prompt and intelligent. He made two outstanding stops to preserve a lead earned - inevitably - by Drogba.
And to spare embarrassment for a man who doesn't blush easily.
Not wanting to draw attention to himself, a sun- kissed Terry appears to be nurturing a Mohican haircut.
Say what you like about the deposed England captain but he does defiance better than most.
With Kevin Doyle operating as a lone wolf, this was never going to be an overly-rigorous transition from poolside to Premier League for Terry. But there was still a string of worrying signals for Chelsea and for England.
Terry is a player who defends on his toes - yesterday, he was caught too often on his heels.
Such as when Matt Jarvis looped over a cross that was met by Adlene Guedioura. Cech repelled as thunderous a volley as you are likely to see.
There is no doubt that the remainder of the season - and the summer in South Africa - will be a stringent test of character. And hopefully, he will get the airshots out of the way now.
A scissor-kick that never looked like making a connection should have given Wolves parity in the second half but Cech was sprinter-quick to deny Foley and Terry had managed to scramble back to collect a lame Guedioura follow-up.
The taunting of Terry at Molineux was more pantomime than vicious - and a barometer for the state of the game.
When supporters start amusing themselves within half an hour, you know proceedings are pretty dull.
For a good half an hour, Chelsea's creative juices were wrung out by Wolves' work ethic.
But the sheer effort of creating pressure appeared to take its toll on their composure.
With their first move worthy of note, Chelsea eased ahead. Yury Zhirkov has already hinted at being an extremely capable replacement for Ashley Cole and provided the inspiration.
But it was the cushioned pass from Michael Ballack that was the key to Drogba's 24th goal of the season.
It was a pass that almost insisted Zhirkov serve up a certainty for Drogba. And he did.
Some might say it was harsh. It wasn't. It was just maximum reward for one moment of class. And it proved to be a rare moment, indeed.
The fluency of mid-season has vanished. This will be a title won by willpower.
A pimply pitch did not help but that was still no explanation for Joe Cole's singular lack of influence.
He appeared to be handed his favourite position, just behind the front two, but one sumptuous ball to Nicolas Anelka apart, he wandered as though in a fog of confusion.
Cole will need rapid improvement to re-enter Fabio Capello's thoughts.
Terry will always be at the forefront of Capello's mind but his uncertainty was an avenue back into the game for Wolves.
They rightly received warm applause for their endeavours but had Doyle enjoyed the benefit of a strike partner, they might have been capable of causing an upset.
That was still on the agenda until Cech followed up his two wonderful blocks by drop-kicking over the head of a distracted Christophe Berra, sending Drogba in for a confrontation with Marcus Hahnemann.
Drogba won it emphatically to close to within two of Wolves' TOTAL league goals.
Just as pleasing for boss Ancelotti must have been that his match-winner hardly needed to put in the most tiring shift ahead of Wednesday's date with Jose Mourinho.
On the downside, Zhirkov's calf tightened up but Ancelotti reckons he will be fit to face Inter.
Chelsea will need him. Until Terry rediscovers his pre-scandal pre-eminence, this team will be vulnerable.
Fortunately for them, the man with the skull cap is back to being head and shoulders above the rest.

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Telegraph:

Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 Chelsea 2
By Sandy Macaskill at Molineux

Two attempts on target, two goals from Didier Drogba, it was a case of minimum input for maximum reward at Molineux, and one which afforded Chelsea some breathing space at the top of the table, now four points clear of Manchester United. They could not have been anymore businesslike.
But of course, after Tiger Woods’ 'mea culpa' on Friday turned everyone into amateur psychologists, the real interest here was not whether Chelsea would increase their lead over United, but on what effect a week spent endeavouring to repair his marriage in Dubai has had on John Terry.
Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti tells players to 'protect club's image' So what to take from his gaffe in the second half?
Attempting a volleyed clearance in his own box, the centre-back muffed it in fine style, leaving Kevin Foley clean through. Wolverhampton Wanderers were unfortunate that Petr Cech provided a super save, and by the time Adlene Guedioura had latched onto the rebound Terry was back, his mind reordered, to clear off the line. But it was chink in the armour, nevertheless, and one which gave the Molineux crowd an excuse renew their vocal expression of schadenfreude.
Not that there had been much else to occupy their time. Someone had clearly filled the football with helium for the first half, for nearly all of the shots – Michael Ballack’s and Stephen Ward’s the most notable for their potential to cause damage but their inability to do so – sailed innocently over the respective cross-bars.
Kevin Doyle gave the home crowd an opportunity to leave off Terry, for a while, with two shots which tested Cech, particularly a fizzing drive to the near post, but the goalkeeper swatted it aside, just as he did a first time volley from Guedioura five minutes into the second half. So much for the Czech being a fading force.
It was only a matter of time before Chelsea struck, it appearing almost effortless when they did. Yuri Zhirkov slid the sort of simple ball across the goal-line that Drogba, arriving at the far post, could not fail to convert, and the second was even more economical. Cech found Drogba with long kick from his own box, and the striker took a touch and rounded Marcus Hahnemann. Job done.