Chelsea
Dominated possession but the slow pace of the attack failed to test the Wolves too much, with most of the source of threat in the opening half coming from long passes forward to initiate fast breaks. The positional play picked up after the first half hour, and there wasn't much threat of crosses from the sides in this game, but there were occasional chances from HALF SPACE on the outside of the box to find the front man with a shot straight at goal. However, with so many defenders in the Wolves' penalty area, it was difficult to get a comfortable opening, and either the quality of the shot dropped due to pressure from the defense, or the shot was blocked by the defense. The closest they came to scoring was when Kovacic's cross from the edge of the box found Lukaku, whose shot was parried by Sa from close range.
The Wolves don't execute high pressure presses much and therefore didn't give the
Chelsea
Too much room to play up front. On their own possession rounds, Neto dropping back to demand the ball before linking up with the wing was an important pivot to help push the team forward. Due to the low number of attacks against
Chelsea
The defense did limited damage. A free kick, which Saiss headed wide in front of goal, was the closest the offense came to scoring. In addition, the Wolves mounted several effective counterattacks late in the first half, with shots from Neto, Dendoncker, and Ait-Nouri all allowing the
Chelsea
The defense pinched.
In the second half, Lukaku and Saiss battled for possession when the former was brought down in the box to buy a penalty and take the help himself.
Chelsea
Coady took the lead. Coady then dropped the ball in the back of the net, and Kovacic found Lukaku with a direct kick to score again, breaking the deadlock with two goals in three minutes.
The Wolves counter-attacked at a relentless pace after that, and a single goal from Wong Hee Chan almost got them back into the game, with another Trincao taking advantage of his opponents' return to defense before rising from the edge of the penalty area to break through; and
Chelsea
With more space in front of them, Kovacic almost killed the game when he broke into the box with the ball and fired home. The attacking situation became more and more evident after the deadlock was broken, and the excitement peaked after Trincao's goal.
The Wolves had chances to equalize late in the game, with Trincao's shot from a slight opening after a collision with the wall being blocked and Jimenez's shot from the edge of the box going wide, but the ball game was interrupted several times due to injuries, preventing the Wolves from creating a siege situation, but ......
In injury time added on, Chiquinho's right-wing cross found Coady's header to give the Wolves a dramatic equalizer, sending the
Chelsea
Future boss Boehly is having a field day.
England Premier Soccer League
Shock education.
Lukaku's second goal should have been a nice confidence booster but
Chelsea
Recent games have not been as controlled or as defensively consistent as earlier in the season, and the final draw by Wolves left a disappointing end.
Wolves shook off their poor performance in the previous round, with solid defense maintaining its standard and fluent counter-attacks being invaluable, and finally managed to force a draw with the Wolves.
Chelsea
, so that outstanding contest content is rewarded as it should be.
Brighton
Timely high-pressure pressing allowed them to recover the ball, back-passing allowed them to stabilize the 50/50 struggle, ball possession allowed them to push the ball upfield, and finally, the wingbacks' collision with the midfielders or the wingbacks' own breakthrough allowed them to break into the penalty box frequently, and a few prolonged ball-attacking rounds even had the feeling of controlling the game. Although Caicedo's long range goal that rolled into the goal through the crowd was a bit of luck, it was not the only thing that made it happen.
Brighton
The team that did deserve to take the lead. A big long pass from Sanchez, which Varane failed to clear or recover possession from, was picked up and picked out by Welbeck for a deflected kick that almost helped double the deficit.
Manchester United Football Club
's offensive end struggled much more comparatively, with panicked releases allowing
Brighton
The forward passes that allowed the offense to continue and deviate gave away possession for nothing. Aside from a nice offensive stretch during the period when they were just scored on, the
Manchester United Football Club
Spending most of their time on the ball just guiding passes to each other from safety, rarely getting forward, let alone trying to break into the box to create a threat, 0 shots on target in the first half made Rangnick decisively make two substitutions at half time in an attempt to change the tide.
However, the change is not
Manchester United Football Club
or
Brighton
They finally converted their constant stream of penalty area touches into big chances. They finally traded their constant touching of the ball in the penalty area for a big chance when Mac Allister's cross from the right side of the penalty area was headed back across the line by Trossard and into the path of Cucurella for the first goal of the season. It was Cucurella's first goal for the Seagulls, and while tears were piling up in his eyes, Cucurella scored his first goal of the season.
Brighton
The goals are slowly starting to pile up too ......
Sanchez long pass→Cucurella→Trossard→Gross→goal. 3-0.
