Chelsea 3 Wolves 0
Chelsea eased the pressure on Andre Villas-Boas with a comprehensive home victory the Blues boss believes can kick-start their title challenge.
The Portuguese faced questions regarding his future after his team lost their last two home matches, but captain John Terry headed home Juan Mata’s corner to give them an early lead and set up a much needed win.
The Spanish youngster provided the assist for Daniel Sturridge to sweep in a second half-an-hour in, as Chelsea began to dominate.
And Mata blasted in the third from close range before the interval to make sure this would not be a third defeat inside a week.
It had arguably been Villas-Boas’s worst week so far as Chelsea manager.
Defeat last week to Liverpool saw his side drop out of the top four in the Premier League and their place in the Champions League hangs in the balance after losing to Bayer Leverkusen in midweek.
Such is the scrutiny that comes with managing a team with the high expectations of a billionaire owner, Villas-Boas’ future at Stamford Bridge came into question on Monday, when former boss Guus Hiddink was strongly linked with a return to west London.
But the backing Villas-Boas received spurred Chelsea into a solid performance that puts them within five points of second-placed Manchester United.
After Wolves keeper Wayne Hennessey made a fine save to deny Ramires an early opener, he was picking the ball out of his net when Terry headed home the resulting corner seven minutes in.
Chelsea then began to turn the screw and were two up inside 30 minutes when Mata picked out Ramires to slide in from close range.
And the match was all but won before the interval when Mata burst into the area to side-foot home Ashley Cole’s delivery after another excellent move.
Villas-Boas is now hoping a line can be drawn after a dismal spell and that Chelsea, who are fifth in the table – nine points behind leaders Manchester City – can make up ground in the title race.
“I think we can win [the title). We have the talent – and belief will be the last thing to die with us,” he declared.
“We were [recently] exposed a couple of times with group mistakes. Now we have to correct them to make sure we are on the right track.
“In the past we have seen examples of us shortening distances. For that to serve as an inspiration we need to get the winning streak back.”
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This post was last modified on 29/11/2011