The make or break fixtures for December always looked like being Brighton and Watford. So far, that’s proved correct.
Predictable defeats to the top two and a narrow victory over an alright but not brilliant Seagulls side have us on track.
We’re back in bonus ball territory on Sunday – assuming it goes ahead – and if Wolves can show the same application they did against Liverpool and City, we’ll have a great chance of getting something.
As we approach halfway, getting to 40 points is still the main objective, but I think 50 is realistic if the team maintain consistency and then anything north would represent an excellent season.
Chelsea
The Blues have just started to wobble. In isolation, drawing with Man Utd and losing at West Ham isn’t disastrous, but dropping points at home to Everton will have hurt.
City and Liverpool have won all their games in the same period meaning 7 valuable points have been surrendered and that’s way too much to keep pace with the juggernauts.
What they really need now is four straight wins over Christmas to keep them in contention before they play the top two back-to-back in January. This is definitely a defining moment in their season.
Covid has reduced Thomas Tuchel’s options with Lukaku, Werner, Huson-Odoi and Chilwell all testing positive. None will feature in this fixture.
It’s not been made clear what the criteria are for a postponement but you’d have thought we’re teetering on the edge with four other games for the weekend already cancelled.
Wolves
Bruno Lage has his own problems to solve with Ait-Nouri and Hwang both limping out of the Brighton game. We don’t have the luxury of Chelsea’s mega-squad to fall back on so even a couple of injuries have us stretched to the limit.
Raul’s return will help and despite some flourishes from the front three in the second half at Brighton I don’t think many would argue against him being restored to the side.
It could be any combination of Traore, Podence and Trincao supporting or maybe just one of them with Dendoncker packing out the midfield.
Moutinho and Neves have been used interchangeably at times by Bruno with Dendoncker brought in so that could be another option with a reasonably quick turnaround from Wednesday.
Last time out
Pedro Neto’s late winner in this fixture last season was arguably the high point of our entire campaign and felt seismic given the struggles we endured in the winter months. It was a deserved victory too after a strong comeback in a second-half where Daniel Podence also made his mark.
When we arrived at Stamford Bridge a month later, Frank Lampard was gone and Thomas Tuchel was in the dugout for his first game in charge. We well and truly parked the bus and restricted Chelsea to very little. Pedro Neto even had a good chance to win it on the counter but lifted narrowly over the bar.
Predictions
Well done to Mutt1eigh, St.Kitts Wolves, Silverwolf, Steppenwolfe, Steve, King of the cowshed, Woodend wolf, Rich, AveburyWolf, Brunos jab will knock ’em out(in the shed), Lord Twix, Brompton Wolf, Wolfstroker, Border Wolf and DeptfordWolf who all collected a maximum by correctly forecasting a 1-0 win on Wednesday.
Brompton Wolf leads the way at the top of the overall table at the end of Gameweek 17.
As always, if you’d like to join in, it’s simple – just leave your prediction in the comment section below using the boxes provided. Then repeat for every preview article throughout the season, making sure you always use the same email address to make your prediction. Your email is what ties you to your overall score.
You can read my prediction for the game in the comment section below.
Up The Wolves!
Polite request – when commenting in the preview article after the game has finished, can you not place score predictions in the boxes, please? It confuses the system. Many thanks.
We have been unfortunate in losing to Utd, Spurs, Leicester, citeh and livarpool
Honest
I’m sure we will beat one or both of Chelsea, arsenal
Jimmy to get back on track and kilman with the second
Come on you wolves
Keep it tight and hit them on the break Chelsea are having a bit of a wobble so no reason we can’t win.
If it goes ahead it’s to our advantage with them struggling a bit for form and missing key personnel.
They’ve looked vulnerable defensively in recent weeks, so that’s another bit of encouragement for Wolves. But Kante might return to their team on Sunday, which could change the picture.
All things considered, we can realistically hope to restrict them to zero or one goal and should get more opportunities going forward than we mustered against City and Liverpool, so I’ll back us to get a draw with Raul to redeem himself after that horrorshow at the Etihad.
They’ll be starting to panic down the Kings Road and in Saratov as their plastic favourites steadily lose ground on the red scousers and can’t sell our tickets mancunians. Bruno will attempt to use this to our advantage but can we make the net bulge?
By the way, for those of you who are unaware I’d highly recommend checking out Cutrone’s brilliant headed winner against high riding Napoli. It is certainly worth watching but might not be what you’d expect. But maybe it is!
You get your head on the ball and change direction and anything can happen.
It seems the criteria for a postponement is if your one of the top 6 and on our most valuable club list and some of your superstars want a christmas break then just say and you can have a couple of weeks off but if your not in the top 6 dont bother asking.
Oh and we will ignore the fact that your 25 man squads are packed with multi million pound player’s and the plebs squads are threadbare .
Anyway IF this is on we will win it …of that i am convinced .BUT with chelski having a major wobble at the moment and the poor darlings needing to christmas shop and rest i have a funny feeling we may have to sit this one out.
Still what can a minnow club like us do we have to doff our caps to the whims of the big boys and lets face it if they cant beat everton on their own turf then they are not turning us over…expect more covid positives from them and a reprieve from a major embarrassment
But if it happens !!!!.
Chelsea have a vast squad which should help keep the game on and we will surely benefit from their having several top players out .
I am more optimistic about the season than Thomas and am not at all concerned about the 40 point target .Indeed in the season we qualified for Europe in 7 th we had 26 points after 19 games and we have 24 now with two more games to that target .At least a top 10 finish is my target .
Onwards and upwards for our beloved team .
To be fair, I did say 50 points was realistic and we’re currently on a course to get around 53, which would probably get us around 10th.
I’m not pessimistic, it’s more that we’re walking a tight rope with this squad.
You’re right about us being on track with the top 7 seasons, but we’re also around where we were last season (22 from 17) and it was calypso collapso from there on out, scuffing the points to stay up. 45 flattered us in my opinion.
I think if we’re fortunate with injuries the current squad will get 47-54, but if we suffer a bit it could easily be another 40-45 trudge to the finishing post. Reinforcements in January would tip the odds in our favour and possibly even get us into 55-60+ territory if the recruits were of a decent standard.
I agree that a mid table finish is the most likely Thomas but like to stay optimistic for a run at a European place to keep the spirits up .Europa Conference fine by me !
I am not that optimistic about January recruits as I suspect Fosun are looking at this season as mid table with not too much expenditure especially while the threat of another shutdown remains very much alive .Hope I am wrong .
Chelsea will realize that if they lose this game, they could well be 7 points behind the leaders, and probably out of the title running! They will play it like a CL final. But we are no mugs! A rock solid defense, only 14 goals against us (4 penalties and a flattened Sa to boot) so Chelsea will have to work hard. We are overdue for a bit of luck so why not now?
Odds on that Chelsea will be awarded a penalty by hook or by crook! The dice is loaded! But we will survive, and we will win! I
Really unsure about team selection. Podence was excellent last game but feel Dendonker and Tarore are more suited for this game, and very reluctantly would leave licence on the bench.
There will be a lot of pressure on Chelsea to win this one after recent wobbles, but hoping we can get something out of it too.
We have to push on and given Chelsea’s current position and our amazing defence Sunday will be our early Christmas present ?
Got a feeling in my bones that we will win this one, especially as Chelski seem in a bit of a slump. Fingers crossed.
Of the top 3 Chelsea are clearly the weakest contingent.
If we can be as solid as we were against Liverpool and City and show more adventure going forward we can win this. As pointed out, probably as good a time as any to play them (if it goes ahead) with key players missing and them having a slight wobble.
Hope the game goes ahead and it should be a cracker. Chelsea were unlucky not to win yesterday and will be even more motivated to get all 3 points given they are losing ground in the top two. Marcel was brilliant on Wednesday but another tough game within 4 days could well be beyond him given his limited playing time this season and past record of injuries. I don’t expect him to finish the game. Nothing to fear though and the longer the game goes scoreless the more likely we will take the points. Raul will be out to redeem himself and Adama’s new found interplay to continue. One nil the lads.
David James was seen on BT Sport saying we should be happy that our team is so difficult to beat but not to expect any more than 1-0 games for or against. That’s a fair point based on the evidence so far. I hope we continue to play matches as a moral victory for having a Covid protocol that works and vaccinations across the club. When players are injured or suspended, postponements aren’t granted and clubs have to use other professionals, big clubs with big squads especially .
I fail to see how a positive covid test is any different from an injury.
Unless every player is infected, games should go ahead.
Therein lies the open door to deceit.
Any club, especially them wot got the clout, will immediately declare that too many are affected to enable them to put out a team.
Boo Hoo.
I don’t suppose there is any independent, reliable and trustworthy body which can verify the test results?
I know, the clowns/cheats who run v.a.r.!
Problem solved.
Therefore, the Chelsea game will be off, giving the likes of Lukakoo a chance to recover, and the club as a whole a lovely, unexpected Christmas break.
What’s the betting some so called covid victims are photographed in vacation spots, etc. where they shouldn’t be?
If the game goes ahead, we will win.
Simples.
Raul to run riot, rectifying his brain fart in Manchester.
Easy win.
And, it’ will be nice to see all these teams racking up postponed matches, as we surge ahead, leaving them in our Wanderers wake!
Games in hand are a two edge sword, points on the board always better.
5-1 is my surprise prediction.
Isn’t exactly this sort of injury crisis why clubs have squads and reserves? Surely teams should be fined if they can’t meet the fixture demands?
Wolves manage on one of the smallest squads in the division but Man U can’t field a team?
Spot on, Clive.
Here here Clive… spot on .
A tight 1-0 to us. We’re hard to score against and we’ve broken our duck at the other end.
I said many weeks ago that Bruno has enough in the locker to keep us treading water around midtable till the January window. He’s done better than that. He’s had us flirting with Europe. Hopefully Jeff will open the cheque book to give Bruno a very belated and well deserved Christmas present. If so, I can see us doing more than just flirting with Europe.
I’m with you there, Dances. Beat the Chelski and we can be expected to give Europe a snog under the Mistletoe, some gentle frotage (its in the dictionary) and finish her off with a good old fashioned black country hammering over the Turkey bits on the kitchen table. Luverlie. COYW
Another tight affair methinks.
We won’t score more until we recruit so against the top 3 I expect more of the same.
Agree with your front 3 that will have them on the ropes
So close to getting something out of Liverpool and City. Chelsea seem to be crmubling under the pressure to keep up and have some major absentees. Looks like a good time to play them but if we go too gung-ho then they still have enough quality to bite us on the bottom.
Since when did we ever go hung-ho, never mind too gung-ho? Bruno isn’t Bielsa.
First three games?
That wasn’t gung-ho. We lost by the odd goal and one was a dodgy penalty and the other a last minuter in Fergie time.
I’d be really interested to see the logic that Brighton wolves was playable but Man U Brighton is not?
Wolves have been good defensively but will have to be at their best to stop Chelsea. I’d bite your hand off for a point but I suspect the officials will intervene if it’s close.
VAR 1 – 0 wolves
Tough game upcoming
Once again I am positively surprised how positive Wolves bloggers get when we play “big” teams, yet seem a lot more worried when we play the lower echelon.
I tend to go by the league table position, so I cannot see anything but a loss. (Maybe that’s why I ain’t doing so well).
Hopefully our defence will remain strong, but I fear another siege.
We all know there is no corruption in football amongst match officials and that the use of VAR is always fair and proportionate. With that in mind I expect to see a stray squirrel run on to the pitch and bury a nut near the half way line. This will in turn lead to Rudiger tripping up over it and doing a forward roll in to the Wolves penalty box, coming to a stand still on the edge of the 6 yard box. VAR will intervene and rule that it was unfair on Rudiger in that if the squirrel had not run on the pitch Rudiger would have run on around 6 Wolves defenders and hit a 25 yard shot in to the top corner. Goal awarded. In the 60th minute a Chelsea defender will produce a chainsaw and hack Adamas leg off on the penalty spot as he is about to shoot on goal. VAR intervenes and decides the production of a chainsaw by a defender to hack someone’s leg off is not covered anywhere in the rules so a penalty cannot be awarded. No penalty. In the 75th minute a souped up car with a loudly adjusted exhaust system races down the Waterloo Road. the noise from it scares Ngolo Kante as he picks a pass in midfield . VAR intervenes and rules Kante is unfairly penalised by the excessive car noise and rules that despite there being nothing to say this is a penatly offence on this occasion it is ‘natural justice’ that had Kante not been scared by the noise his fluffed pass would have led to an intricate 15 man passing move resulting in a clear goal. Goal given. An incensed Molinuex finally explodes when Podence takes the ball 6 yards in side his own half , races towards goal and unleashes a shot in to the top corner. VAR intervenes and decides because Podence is only a small chap it is a bit unfair because had he been 6ft 7 he may well have been offside. No goal. But despite all this WWFC still manage to get a draw in the dying seconds after Stockley Park catches covid and is no longer able to officiate. Final score WWFC 3 Chelsea 3. After the game Bruno said ” I am going to fly a private helicopter over Stockley Park and drop a f**cking bomb on it”. Tuchel said ” I hate VAR – it should have given us another 7 goals each time we took a throw in”. WWFC 3 Chelski 3.
Its very possible…….
But would it be a 2x stroke chainsaw or 11o/240 volt?
Could be a hse issue if an extension lead is required.
Would the players be required to wear high vis and hard hats?
I’d probably have gone for the Vietnam war era dug pit with spikes although there would be a real risk of the referee failing into it…probably would require taping off until required.
Maybe the game would end up running over by twenty minutes..that couldn’t happen…..
Would it?
Cheesey, you have excelled yourself!
Just a shame that it might well happen.
We’ve had worse.
Count Von Tuchel and his Chelsea Blitzkrieg seem to have run out of fuel and heading for a run in with the Oligarch ….a loss to the Hammers ,fumbled fixture against Everton and now to face the mighty Wolves … too soon to say Klunk could be added to the long list of ex Chelski managers but …. the team will still go on and win the Champions League again with or without him… and we’ll win this one
The sight of a fleet of Chelski tractors and Maserati’s parked up outside the Mol is enough to stoke the fires of any Yammer.
They will be praying for more Covid to call it off, but, for the sake of TV and the Nations entertainment in these troubled times, will be forced to field a schoolboy team of Mason Mount wannabees. Tuff Toffees.
Nothing can stop Traore scoring his customary brace.
We can expect Kenny Hibbit to be on full alert at the refs monitoring station, following the AWOL performance at the Twatihad. When asked for a comment he said :
‘What can you do? Stick a deckchair up your nose? There were no motorised stretchers at the 1974 League Cup final. Which we won.’
1 lv & COYW.
If the rumours of a Covid crisis at Chelski are correct we should be in with a chance winning this. A draw is the least I would expect in any case.
No idea who Bruno will pick up front, admittedly he does not have much choice left, given that6 he obviously doesn’t trust Silva and that Trincao is about as useful as a fairy on a gob of lard.
Still hope springs eternal as they say so I will go for a win.
Chelsea looked good last night for much of the game and it took a wonderful free kick to open then up
But we can do that too
Based on trends we don’t score more than one or concede more than one
So I’ll take a point and roll on Watford
If it goes ahead, I think, with some overdue luck, we could gain a 2-1 win.
With a fair way to travel I hope the game is not called off late.
?.
As we all know Chelsea’s wheels are not as round as they were earlier in the season. My own theory is that they missed Kante and Kovacic more than might have been expected. With Chilwell out as well and confidence dipping Wolves have a chance.
I would like to see us go for it, nothing to lose and plenty to be gained.
It’s as good a time as it could get to play this lot so long as it goes ahead.
Honestly think we can keep all 3 points; might have to concede a goal though.
Squad’s a bit threadbare in places so hope to see some decent arrivals next month!!!
W.W. 0-2 CH.
Keep it tight this is a free hit. As been pointed out Chelski can’t to drop more points, which means they will come to attack and create open play, we can exploit with Adama steaming rolling through the middle.
Play Boly in defence and have a front two of Raul and Romaine.
Wolves are 6/1 to beat Chelski at the golden palace, this should be enough motivation for the wolves to beat a depleted opposition.
For me the most heartening thing about our win versus Brighton was the numerous positive comments in the media and social media about so many different players.
Saiss, Sa, Kilman, Coady, Neves, Moutinho, Traore, Podence, Trincao, Marcal, Semedo. Everyone played their part.
It wasn’t perfect but we deserved that win, could and should have been by a bigger margin, but it was a really good team performance.
Fingers crossed that Hwang Hee-Chan and Ait-Nouri won’t be out for too long.
With Boly, Mosquera, Neto and of course Jonny coming back, and Raul available after serving a one match ban, we should be confident about the rest of the season.
UTW
Will it or won’t go on.?thats the question.
If it suits Chelsky or if it doesn’t….
If it goes ahead we won’t get a better chance of a result.
Jimenez is back and I back him to score,so let’s go all out and get a win.
Whatever side chelsky put out we know it’s going to be a real test,but us being at home we have a chance, let’s hope for a decent Ref and Var favour.
David Coote
Don’t know var official yet.
You’re an optimistic lot. I rate Chelsea’s defence and we don’t score much. Could be snore draw but I fear another 0-1
Always go with the fear.
Seeing as my predictions are always wrong, any extra analysis of my incorrect views seems an additional burden. So I’ll just put my incorrect prediction in the boxes below and be on my way…
Given all the injuries and the two vivid positives, the bench will be interesting. Maybe even three goalies!
Thought we defended very well in first half against Brighton and played well generally in second so hopefully they will keep the momentum going and Nick a result.
Despite the excellent defence, cannot see them not scoring.
Don’t worry people Chelsea will most likely get a penalty and win by the odd goal.
Let’s see….. If the corruption continues once again at our expense.
Keeping my fingers crossed this one isn’t postponed.
After digging deep against City and Liverpool it will take a similar effort to get something out of this game. That’s if it even happens due to Chelsea’s COVID cases.
Our injuries are starting to increase now which will test our small squad.
Merry Christmas Wolves fans
Come on! We can do this!
Rudiger is a player I like
If we play Traore it will be interesting (I mean the Traore when it looked like he was going to sign his contract)
Just hope we get to Jan and we get a Father Christmas and a fairy godmother (no chance but as always we hope more than expect)
That
Mendes gets a client for Silva who will give us 30 mill back
Renato Sanches is still interested in us, think Botman ship has sailed
Bruno gets more chance to alter the team shape with whoever (if any) comes in
Really tough one this but if we’re ever going to get something from the bridge then this is time to do it. We need to take our chances! We’re a better side than Everton so no reason we can’t go one better and get all 3 points. We’ll have to be at our best to do so though. Come on Wolves!
Hope that you are not actually going as you might be in the wrong place!
I’m hoping our tight defence will frustrate Chelski and they start arguing amongst themselves (as Liverpool did; also, imo, Henderson was subbed bc he was about to explode, but that was then, this is now).
Going for another tight game with a narrow win, although I would LOVE it if our first goal opened it up for a Clive.
We’ve had some good games against Chelsea over the years but the stand out one for me will always be the 2nd leg of the FA Youth cup final… years ago.
5-1 down from the first leg and then to go and put 6 past a good Chelsea side to win it….
We’ve got a defensive unit so good that a Brinks Matt robber would struggle to crack…. and so it’s going to be another tight affair…
I remember that scoreline your lordship. I’d almost forgotten that we could score more than zero goals in a match. I wonder what became of those young Chelsea and Wolves players? It was well after Jimmy Greaves’ day I believe.
I just googled it DWW…
Jimmy greaves was playing for them and Ted Farmer scored 4 at the Mol….
I like you’re comment about …. ‘scoring more than zero..’
I met Ted farmer a couple of times at some of the ‘ save the wolves meetings ‘…when we were trying to get the Bhattis out . There’s a man that cared !
Six out of ten games postponed so far this weekend, and I betcha more will follow.
According to one source, Watford’s match is off due to:
“covid, injuries and other illness”
As previously stated above, the covid card is playing right into the hands of those with some injured players, lying about covid, in the hope of getting their ” stars” fit before the team has to play again.
The whole system is rife with corruption.
.
My prediction is that the Chelsea mascot will be diagnosed with COVID and they will successfully appeal for the game to be called off.
If we do manage to play then I expect to see another goalless draw.
Just as, over 2000 years ago, the Three Wise mice… or was it the Three Blind Men?… followed yonder star to Bethlehem, the PMDG’er and I travelled to Wolverhampton from the wilds of Wiltshire. Seeking The Golden Palace, masked up and clutching – not Gold, Frankenstein and Myrrh – but our NHS Covid Passes in our sweaty mitts.
Tomorrow, we hope to gain access to said Palace and witness the Miracle of the Feeding of the 30,000, as The Ravening Wolves consume the Fancy Dan Pensioners for dinner.
I think that’s probably quite enough of religious references for now.
I just pray that the match will go ahead (There I go again).
I think Chelsea are there for the taking if we have the balls to go for them.
Raul to bag two.
It just remains for me to wish all fellow bloggers the best of Christmases possible, given the crap we are all going through. And a Happy New Year.
And the same goes to all at Molineux.
Please Jeff, don your Santa outfit and bring us a sack load of seasonal swag in the form of a few new recruits.
3-2 thriller UTW
More big club bias. Arsenal bloke dreadful challenge then stands in way of free kick. Raul gets a yellow quickly followed by a red. Arsenal bloke gets ………NOTHING…….No yellow/red. No VAR. It really is shit.
Will be checking the covid situation before I leave tomorrow morning. Straight in and out for me, so I apologise in advance if I don’t catch up with any bloggers.
Would love to see us take points from this one, but I feel Chelsea may have the edge.
I’m hoping Raul will be so glad to be back in the team after his silly suspension that he’ll be fired up enough to score a couple of goals. I think we are in with a chance here. Eventually things have to go right for us and tomorrow may be the day. I am not yet expecting a repeat of the 6-1 victory over them on 31 December 1960. Perhaps 3-1 this time.
COYW
Let’s hope it goes ahead, with their missing players we have a chance to get at least a point.
1 – 1
No news to say it’s not on, so, in the car I get. Molineux here I come. Will be in town around 1200 hrs.
No idea what to expect.
I’ve got a good feeling for another ‘typical’ Wolves victory.
Just hope the game goes ahead.
Jimenez must come back in, but I would like to see Traore in place of Trincao.
I’m searching for the bloke who was father Christmas in Beatties store in 1960 …i was four at the time and I’m hoping he is now a multi billionaire because I distinctly remember him sitting me on his knee and asking me if id like to empty his sack .
Surely in this day and age that’s got to be worth a few bob in compo ??????????
Was he still there in 1969? ‘Cos the beardy clown asked me to suck his nuts after showing me his yule log. Good job we’ve got the thought police these days.
1 lv & Seasonings to all bloggers.
Due to unforseen circumstances we are having to turn back and miss the game so anyone wanting 2 tickets please let me know.
They are print at home and can be emailed.
Hard to imagine a lot of goals in this one
Is the Chelsea wobble over and can we score one?
Those are the imponderables.
I’m hedging my bets on this one and going for a draw……plus a win forecast on Paddy Power. That will be a nice early Christmas present.
Go Wolves.
Well, this one’s easy. I’m going the whole hog. It’s Christmas presents all round. Neves to finally get one between the sticks and Traore to stop stripping paint off the woodwork after about 2,000 hours of nothing. Kilman to live up to his name and do a job on Mount. Other end, OK, can’t see a clean sheet this match.
Dan
Getting in just under the wire again.
KA/TNs
High hopes for a win, and wins against the spendthrift six are always just that little bit sweeter.
They aren’t invincible. Not saying we won’t get the backlash, but still predict a win
It’s possible we can win this, based on memories of previous outstanding performances against top six teams.
Pleased with the point. Would have taken it prior to kick off. Some conjecture about our goal being ruled out by our friend VAR. Liverpool had a similar one given apparently. But there you go. I don’t bother celebrating anymore. Interesting no flag from linesman. Clear and obvious ? Bollocks.
It will be interesting to see it again but I for one didn’t celebrate as I was sure it was going to be given offside. We’ll see.
Outstanding defensive performance – Saiss and Marcel were immense.
Very happy with a point ( and a correct score prediction!!!)
Yeah congrats mate.