Looking for a miracle

Wolves go to Stamford Bridge on Saturday at 3:00 for an unenviable first game after dropping into the relegation zone.  In this two horse race Wolves are priced at 18/1 for success which gives a scary impression of the task in hand.

Chelsea conceded a goal at home in their first match of the season but since that time have scored 26 without reply at home. When Wolves were last in this division Chelsea scored 5 in both the home and away games. And Chelsea go into the game top of the table and favourites for the title. So a home win would certainly be no surprise.  Crumbs of comfort can be drawn from the fact that Chelsea will go into the game without Drogba, Lampard, Deco and Ballack. But Chelsea are title favourites based on the strength of their squad so there will doubtless be 4 more internationals being ready to step into the fray.

Seems like Wolves have chosen to adopt a disguise to confuse their hosts. Despite no colour clash we have chosen this game to give a first outing to the new away strip (modelled by Matt Jarvis). Lets hope that proves to be a lucky choice but it’s one of those games that an honourable defeat almost feels like a success, but in reality points are needed.

Looks like there might be a couple of changes to the line up from the previous game. Ronald Zubar has picked up a strain in training and will have a late test. That might open the door to Kevin Foley to return to the fold. Last season’s player of the season has had his Premier opportunities limited to two part games due to injury. It would be great to see him come back and prove he can make the grade.

And after his 120 minutes against the french on Wednesday, Kevin Doyle may well be rested. The striker drew loads of praise for his performances in both legs of the World Cup play off. But the fact he ran his legs off for 2 hours and then suffered such a cruel loss might see him get a seat on the bench on Saturday.

That being the case I suspect we will be looking to crowd Chelsea out of space in midfield by going for a 4-5-1 line up of;

Hennessey

Foley, Craddock, Berra, Stearman

Kightly, Edwards, Henry, Castillo, Milijas

Ebanks Blake.

So this is a game to watch in hope rather than expectation. If anything there is already more focus on the next two games at home against Birmingham and Bolton – games that are in danger of being built up to epic significance. But lets not be defeatist, and maybe Chelsea will see a blessing in disguise in defeat. When Man Utd came to Molineux in 2004 Wolves were similarly given no chance. Well we won 1-0 that day and it didn’t stop United being champions. Sadly it didn’t stop Wolves going down either but any positive result on Saturday would surely be an enormous tonic for the challenges ahead. Despite the midweek controversies in Paris there will be no video technology to help the ref so maybe Wolves can ‘hand’ Chelsea a surprise.

Category: Team News

Tags: Team News

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