Sunday, 25 August. Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 – Chelsea 6. In the opening weekend, Wolves and Chelsea had each lost 2-0 to the top two teams from the previous season, Arsenal and Manchester City respectively. That left Gary O’Neil and newly-appointed Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca, a former assistant coach under Pep Guardiola arriving fresh off a Championship-winning promotion campaign at Leicester City, both looking for their first points of the new season.

O’Neil was hoping to improve on his previous 14^th place finish, while Maresco was trying to come to grips with the chaotic Chelsea environment that had undone Graham Potter and Mauricio Pochettino over the past two seasons. Adding to the game day hype was Noni Madueke’s ill advised Instagram post (apparently, a private post he accidentally made public) declaring that everything about Wolverhampton was shit. He was roundly booed every time he touched the ball, and there certainly seemed an unexpected edge to this game as a whole, with a series of coming togethers between players, particularly in the first half.

Though Nicolas Jackson headed in a corner at the far post at the start of the game to put Chelsea ahead, it quickly became apparent that the first half would be an open, two-way affair with plenty of chances for both sides. At the quarter-hour mark, a counter-attack by Jackson was immediately reversed into a counter-attack where Matheus Cunha appeared to have equalized, though there was an offside in the build-up. Cunha would equalize on another counter-attack midway through the half, and in general Wolves were probably the more threatening side in the first half.

At the end of the half—on yet another quick ball out from the back—Cole Palmer chipped José Sá to restore Chelsea’s lead; but then in first half stoppage time, Jørgen Strand Larsson jabbed in another equalizer off a free kick.

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At halftime, Maresca replaced a relatively anonymous Mykhailo Mudryk on the left with Pedro Neto and seemed to direct Malo Gusto, at right back but tucking into midfield alongside Moisés Caicedo, to play a bit deeper rather than pushing up behind the attack. This second change was probably intended to provide more support against Cunha, but it may also have opened up more space for Cole Palmer to drift right—though in truth he was doing so in the first half as well.

Whatever the reason, Palmer and Madueke took over the second half, as a hat-trick of Palmer-assisted Madueke goals at the start of the half and then to either side of the hour mark turned the game. With just over 10’ remaining, Mario Lemina put a lovely shot into the net, but it was ultimately judged offside in the buildup. Shortly afterward, Palmer played Neto up the left, and his cross in found second half substitute João Félix to put home Chelsea’s sixth.

They would go on to tie Crystal Palace the following weekend, but Maresca’s efforts saw them lose only one more game before Christmas (to Liverpool). By comparison, Gary O’Neil’s side remained rooted in the relegation zone until the middle of December, when he was replaced by Vítor Pereira, a well-travelled manager most recently at Al Shabab.

Tactical Analysis: Between the Posts, We Ain’t Got No History (SBNation), Fotbal Simplu, Talk Football Tyrone (YouTube; on halftime changes).