Wolves face Chelsea at Molineux on Saturday afternoon aiming to cause a dent in the Blues’ push for European football this season, and wolves.co.uk is here to preview the Premier League clash.
1 | Roll Call
Rob Edwards said Wolves supporters can expect to see new signings Angel Gomes and Adam Armstrong make their debuts on Saturday, and he must now decide if that’s from the start or off the bench. The head coach also has Ladislav Krejci back fit and available, after he missed last week’s defeat due to injury. Jean-Ricner Bellegarde came through his return against Bournemouth, so is available once more, but Toti still remains absent, having not returned to team training yet.
Liam Rosenior says he’ll check on Reece James and Pedro Neto, after they missed Tuesday’s defeat at Arsenal, but have since trained. Cole Palmer and Estevao have had their minutes managed in recent weeks, but Rosenior insists they’re both ready to start. A tear to the hamstring is set to keep Jamie Gittens out for a significant amount of time, however. Levi Colwill remains out for the season with a knee injury, while Dario Essugo is absent until March. Tosin Adarabioyo and Romeo Lavia are both expected to miss out with thigh injuries, while Filip Jorgensen is nearing a return.
2 | The Stat Pack
Goals
- Tolu Arokodare | 4
- Joao Pedro | 12
Assists
- Hee Chan Hwang | 3
- Reece James | 6
Biggest win
- Wolves 6-1 Shrewsbury | January 2026
- West Ham 1-5 Chelsea | August 2025
Yellow cards
- Andre | 10
- Moises Caicedo | 10
Clean sheets
- Jose Sa | 2
- Robert Sanchez | 13
Straight into the action at Compton 💪 pic.twitter.com/4Q1n4tClfE
— Wolves (@Wolves) February 5, 2026
3 | Journey to Saturday
Wolves enjoyed a positive start to 2026, having gone unbeaten in five matches in the early stages of the new year, which saw Edwards’ side pick up Premier League points and progress into the FA Cup fourth round, they have now suffered successive 2-0 defeats in the Premier League. After going down to Manchester City at the Emirates a fortnight ago, the Old Gold suffered a loss by the same scoreline against AFC Bournemouth at Molineux last weekend, in a game which could have looked much different if the hosts had taken some of the multitude of chances in front of goal which fell their way.
Chelsea go into the weekend sat fifth in the Premier League standings, but arrive at Molineux with mixed emotions from their past ten days, having fallen at the semi-final hurdle of the Carabao Cup at Arsenal in mid-week. Trailing 3-2 from the first leg, Chelsea kept in their Carabao Cup semi-final until the final moments of Tuesday’s clash, but couldn’t force extra time, with the Gunners instead winning it on the counter-attack late on through Kai Havertz. The Carabao defeat came after a stirring Premier League comeback from two goals down at home to West Ham United last weekend and an impressive Champions League win at Napoli which secured progression into the knockout stages.
4 | A Covid cracker behind closed doors
The only shame around Wolves’ stunning Molineux over Chelsea in 2020 was that it took place in front of an empty Molineux.
The Blues paid a visit to the Black Country just before Christmas five years ago and took the lead on 50 minutes through Olivier Giroud.
However, Old Gold supporters were robbed of big celebrations when Daniel Podence equalised and Pedro Neto’s solo goal in stoppage time sealed a brilliant with for Nuno Espirito Santo’s team and ended a run of three games without victory.
Wolves | Patricio, Semedo, Boly, Coady, Saiss, Marcal, Neves, Dendoncker (Otasowie 46), Neto, Podence (Vitinha 90), Silva (Traore 61).
Chelsea | Mendy, James, Zouma, Silva, Chilwell, Kante, Mount, Havertz (Kovacic 71), Werner, Pulisic, Giroud (Abraham 71).
