Chelsea FC travel to Wolverhampton Wanderers for a midweek clash that sees the Blues likely catching Wolves at just the right time. Wolves are winless in their last six league games, having not achieved a victory since October 6 versus Crystal Palace.
That’s pretty astonishing when you consider Wolves also played Manchester City, a side that’s dropped just four points from a possible 42, to a draw in week three. The dreadful stretch of play has dropped Wolves, who looked like an early Europa League qualification candidate, down to 12th.
In taking a look at the injury, fitness and unavailability situation, both teams are more or less in pretty solid shape for this one.
Ross Barkley could start for Chelsea if he has recovered from a knock, and the former Everton man is a preferable option to Ruben Loftus-Cheek in the midfield alongside N’Golo Kante and Jorginho.
Flipping over to Wolves, they will be without the suspended Ruben Neves after he picked up his fifth booking of the season. Long term injury absentee Jonny probably won’t be back until the new year, due to his knee injury.
Chelsea FC vs Wolverhampton Wanderers FYIs
Chelsea FC Starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Kick-off: 745 pm (BST), Wednesday December 5th, Molineux Stadium, Wolverhampton
Google Win Probability: Chelsea FC 54%, Draw 26%, Wolves 20%
Odds via Odds Shark: Chelsea FC 4/5, Draw 15/5, Wolverhampton 15/4
Prediction: Chelsea FC 3, Wolverhampton 1
Feel free to post your own Chelsea and/or Wolverhampton starting XI predictions, as well as your best guess as to what the final score will be. Enjoy the match everybody!
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Lineups.com and Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.