Blue Christmas Eve! Wolves 2-1 Chelsea: Lemina & Doherty seal the win for hosts

Game is over and the final score is Wolves 2-1 Chelsea. Here is the match report.

Wolves moved level with 10th-placed Chelsea in the Premier League table after second half goals from Mario Lemina and Matt Doherty sealed a 2-1 win for Christmas Eve's Molineux hosts.

Mauricio Pochettino wanted a victory that would have ended Chelsea's pre-Christmas plans on a positive note, but unfortunately there wasn't much to celebrate for the visitors in the Midlands besides Christopher Nkunku's late consolation goal.

Mario Lemina struck shortly after half time with a powerful header off the back of a Wolves corner as the hosts finally capitalised on one of their chances. Matt Doherty later doubled his side's lead in stoppage time.

Chelsea tried to force their way back into proceedings with Mykhailo Mudryk having an effort desperately cleared off the line, while Raheem Sterling also threatened.

As the teams were announced pre-match, the announcer at Molineux said ‘Let’s get this Christmas party started’ and thanks to Mario Lemina’s second-half header and Matt Doherty’s injury-time finish, Christmas arrived early for the home faithful with a win over Chelsea.

Victory for Gary O’Neil’s side put them level on points with Chelsea and a late goal from Christopher Nkunku on his Premier League debut was ultimately nothing more than a consolation as Mauricio Pochettino’s side suffered their eighth league defeat of the season.

It’s fair to say there was little love for this fixture pre-match - the first Premier League game to be played on Christmas Eve since 1995.

Pochettino insisted he was ‘not happy’ as he was forced to miss his wedding anniversary on the 23rd, while Gary O’Neil wrote in his programme notes how ‘it was an inconvenience for some.’