A few minutes after the final whistle, victory boxed off, most of Chelsea’s players had headed for the tunnel but Cole Palmer was wandering around the halfway line in search of lost property. Enveloped by his space-grey puffer coat, making a circle with his hands, bemused staff and teammates soon caught his drift: Palmer wanted evidence of his handiwork, a 25-minute first-half hat-trick that put this game beyond Wolves, even if Liam Rosenior’s side eased off in the second.
After retrieving the match ball from a pitchside attendant, Palmer juggled it halfway across the pitch, embarking on a warm-down of keepie-uppies. It would be easy to paint this as a Palmer masterclass, the England midfielder completing his hat-trick on 38 minutes, but it is fair to say by the time he was substituted on the hour, his work was done. At that point it was 3-1 to the visitors, Wolves pulling a goal back nine minutes into the second half when Tolu Arokodare spun in the box to convert at a corner.
From there, if not earlier, it was hard not to feel as though Chelsea were going through the motions. Palmer’s trio of typically ice-cool finishes, two from the penalty spot, established a comfortable cushion, though it was his third, to cap a slick team move that began with his goalkeeper, Robert Sánchez, that was most satisfying for Rosenior.
“It was a very, very pleasing goal and that is the type of football we want to play,” said the Chelsea head coach, whose record now reads seven wins in nine matches and four successive victories in the league. “Obviously Cole gets three goals, but some of our football was everything I wanted to see. We know what a world-class player he is. He’s played a lot of football over the last year with not much rest, but when he’s at his best he’s unstoppable.”
Wolves, however, gave Palmer and Chelsea a leg-up on 12 minutes. Rob Edwards’s side were the better team until the experienced Wolves captain, Matt Doherty, conceded a silly penalty. João Pedro appeared in a harmless spot, moseying away from José Sá’s goal when Doherty was overzealous and bumped the Brazilian in the box, giving the referee, Jarred Gillett, little choice but to point to the penalty spot.
Palmer sent Sá the wrong way and covered his ears with his black gloves as he wheeled away towards the Chelsea supporters strewn across the lower bank of the Steve Bull Stand. “When you’re at this club with the scrutiny – which I’m starting to learn myself – you have to block out the noise and remember what a good footballer you are,” Rosenior said. “I love working with him.”
Chelsea triumphed from their first meaningful attack and now the confidence was flowing through the visitors. Enzo Fernández attempted a rabona shot. The galling thing for Edwards was Chelsea’s second goal stemmed from another Wolves gift, Yerson Mosquera’s brainless two-handed shove on João Pedro giving the officials a simple decision. The only thing to check was whether the foul was in the box. Once decided, Palmer removed his hands from his hips and dispatched the ball into the opposite corner.
Chelsea’s third goal was a crisp move. Pedro Neto, who caused havoc for Hugo Bueno on his return to Molineux, sent the ball across the field to Fernández and the Argentina midfielder spied the run of Marc Cucurella. When Cucurella cut the ball back for Palmer, a yard or so in front of the penalty spot, Palmer lashed a first-time finish into the roof of the Wolves net.
Wolves have now lost their past four matches to Chelsea by an aggregate scoreline of 15-4 and that is without mentioning their 6-2 defeat at the start of last season. “It was about trying to win the half, sticking to the things we wanted to do and showing some of this,” Edwards said, tapping his heart. “We did that. It wasn’t a team that went under in the end because if we had it would have been embarrassing.”
Chelsea were drifting by the time Alejandro Garnacho entered in place of Palmer. In fact, Palmer’s third was Chelsea’s last effort on goal. Wolves summoned some fight. Arokodare reacted after reading the debutant Adam Armstrong’s clever backward header at a corner, the Wolves goal coming moments after Mateus Mané, a bright light in a gloomy season, struck the inside of a post.
“My hands are feeling the effects after thumping a door in a bit of anger,” Edwards said afterwards. “It was a really promising start but then we made a couple of really ludicrous mistakes. We had to stop the bleeding.”
