Chelsea 3-1 Wolves live – Premier League latest as Madueke, Cucurella and Tosin give Blues a two-goal advantage

Despite a scare by Matt Doherty, Chelsea overcame a brief spell of pressure by the visitors to take three points and move into fourth place in the Premier League.

Chelsea made a rapid start and piled the pressure on 17th placed Wolves, with Tosin Adarabioyo breaking the deadlock in the 24th minute.

Wolves recovered well to equalise on the stroke of half-time after getting a foothold back in the game.

It was a different story in the second half, as Wolves failed to capitalise on this lifeline. Matheus Cunha had a few chances but lacked the quality of finish required to make a difference.

While Cole Palmer failed to score after picking up an injury in the Blues’ last league fixture against Bournemouth, Marc Cucurella and Noni Madueke both found the net to give Chelsea a convincing lead.

Trevoh Chalobah, who was recalled from a period on loan to Crystal Palace and might well have thought he had scored rather than Madueke, will consider it a decent return to his club.

Goal scorer Matt Doherty reflected on Wolves’ lack of quality after the match.

Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: "Everyone knows about Chelsea's quality. For me, it kind of felt like we weren't at the races at the start. There were periods in the game where we were pressing well and looked like we might do something, but not for long enough.

"Against every team in the Premier League you have to be on it for 90 minutes and I just thought tonight there were too many times where we weren't on it."

On their inability to respond to set-pieces, he said: "We are working hard during the week. Tonight it was a couple of set-piece second phases. It is the basic stuff where we need to stay switched on. It is more a concentration thing when the ball comes into the box.

"Set-pieces can also be an attitude thing. You have to want the ball to come to you, or you have to want to attack it. We need to start putting our head in where it hurts and defending set-pieces with an 'over my dead body' attitude."

Reflecting on his side’s performance in the second half, he said: "It doesn't matter how they score, it shouldn't affect our confidence. We got ourselves back in it and going into the second half we felt like the game was there for the taking.

"You would have thought we would have come out with momentum from the end of the first half, but we didn't get going or create too much."

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Noni Madueke said after the match that he was always happy to score goals, especially "easy" ones, referring to his touch on Trevoh Chalobah's header to find the net.

"It’s attacker's instinct," he told Sky Sports. "I think I knew it was going over the line, but I said sorry to Trevor after the match. An assist on his first game back is great for him, but I had to put this in the net!"

Asked if Chalobah was upset that he ended up taking the credit for the goal, he said: "He [Chalobah] was telling me, 'no way you took my goal', but I said to him, 'bro, come on, you have to understand that this is what they pay me to do'."

Speaking of the contribution made by Chalobah, he said: "Unbelievable. Leadership, character, bravery on the ball, he slotted in seamlessly, and I’m really delighted for him. It’s not a coincidence that players like him and Reece [James] are back in and we won the game – they’re Chelsea through and through, and they helped us tonight with their leadership, for sure."

Chelsea are back in the game, putting an end to a five-match streak without a win, with the three points they picked up tonight putting them two points ahead of Manchester City, who they face at the weekend.

Wolves remain rooted to the bottom end of the table with only goal difference keeping them out of the drop zone.

Apart from a brief spell towards the end of the first half, they were completely outclassed by Chelsea.

With Christmas over, the relegation dogfight will surely be underway in earnest, now.

It will not get any easier for Wolves either, who face Arsenal at the weekend.

Chelsea 3-1 Wolves

Robert Sanchez picks up a yellow for timewastign after delaying restarting play.

Caicedo puts paid to that pretty quickly, clearing the ball before it can get anywhere near the net.

A few more to go here.

I think it's something like his eighth touch on the ball tonight, and it's not one he'll remember much about.

Palmer, who has not looked himself this evening, is leaving the pitch now alongside goal-scorer Madueke. Joao Felix and Tyrique George take their places. It's George's Premier League debut.

It's looking a lot like the answer to this is "no". Chelsea have run rings around them for most of the match, and the finish by Wolves has been little short of dire, throughout. The quality simply isn't there and 10 minutes does not feel like long enough to turn their fortunes around.

And while I was typing that up, there was a goal ruled offside for Nicolas Jackson.

For Chelsea, Dewsbury-Hall and James make way for Gusto and Disasi.

Rodrigo Gomez, Bellegarde and Guedes come on now for Wolves, with Ait-Nouri, Andre, and Sariba making way.

Madueke runs on to Chabolah's header to give the Blues a two goal advantage.

Chelsea 3-1 Wolves

Jadon Sancho has come on now to replace Neto for the Blues.

Cucurella receives a wide ball from Madueke in front of the box and manages to find the net.

Chelsea 2-1 Wolves

Dewsbury-Hall gives away a free kick after fouling Gomes in the final third. Some decent footwork by Gomes there, brought down by Dewsbury-Hall, and the free-kick comes to nothing.