There is one Premier League match to take place before Christmas and it does so on Christmas Eve when Wolverhampton Wanderers begin a busy week of action when they take on troubled Chelsea at their Molineux home.
Just three points separate these teams with Chelsea occupying the last place in the top half of the table and Wolves going into the match four places below them. They could move right behind the Blues with a win though.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League channels with the build-up beginning at 12.30pm ahead of a 1pm kick off.
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Given that they had to make a managerial change in the week leading up to the start of the season, and struggled for much of the previous campaign, there were plenty who expected them to be battling relegation this term but they are nowhere near the bottom three. They would have been even further away from it had some shocking decisions not gone against them but they are still largely in the infancy of the Gary O’Neil reign which bodes well for Wolves.
Another thing which bodes well for Wolves in this match is they have only lost two of their eight home matches and it took Liverpool and Brighton to win here. Those were the first two home games that they had and since then they are undefeated in six at Molineux, which includes wins over Manchester City and Tottenham and a draw with Newcastle. You would imagine having had a whole week to prepare for this one that they will come in with a good game plan.
Chelsea
This has been a very stuttering start to the season for Chelsea and as they approach the halfway mark they sit in the top half of the table but they are not really going anywhere. They have progressed in the Carabao Cup and are warm favourites to make the final of that competition which raises some form of hope for The Blues, but the Mauricio Pochettino project hasn’t really come out of the starting traps in the Premier League just yet.
Chelsea were going along ok on their travels this season but they have lost their last three away matches. They have been beaten at Newcastle United, Manchester United and Everton and in truth they have been heavily bashed up in all three matches so they are going to need a massive improvement on that if they are to get a result here. They had to put plenty in to win in the cup in midweek too which isn’t ideal.
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Team News
Wolves have some big injury news going into this match with goalkeeper Jose Sa back from the injury which kept him out last week. Nelson Semedo has recovered from illness but more importantly Pedro Neto could return from a hamstring injury.
Chelsea lost Reece James to injury and they will also be without Enzo Fernandez who is struggling with a hernia issue. There is a chance that Romeo Lavia could be available to make his debut after recovering from injury.
Betting
I like the idea of goals in this game. I wouldn’t trust this Chelsea side to keep a clean sheet for all the tea in China but I’m not convinced Wolverhampton Wanderers are much better equipped to keep one, especially with the Chelsea attacking threats starting to come to the fore in terms of the number of options that are available to Mauricio Pochettino. This is a match both might well feel they can target winning as well.
I think Chelsea have to go into matches believing they can win them at the minute and they seem to play with more freedom away from home. In the eight away matches they have played there have been 26 goals at an average of 3.25 per game. The eight home games Wolves have had so far have yielded 24 goals at an average of three per game so that highlights the potential for over 2.5 goals here but throw in that both will fancy their chances and I expect the over to land.
Tips
Back Over 2.5 goals for a 3/10 stake at 1.84 with Bet365
