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Enzo Maresca cannot hide Liam Delap fury as world-class moment provides Chelsea with £55m hope
Football | October 31, 2025 3:39 AM CST

There were just 28 minutes between the time the full-time whistle was blown at Molineux and Enzo Maresca beginning his post-match press conference. It was an unusually swift turnaround and that meant the rage inside the Chelsea head coach was still present.

The Blues may have won against Wolves on the night, progressed into the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup, and scored four very good goals, but Maresca was far from a happy man.

"The three goals we conceded, I think all of them we can avoid and for sure today also we had a very stupid red card that is completely unnecessary," replied an angry Maresca to a question that was not even about Liam Delap.

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"Absolutely, yes," he responded when asked if Delap's red card was deserved. "I completely understand when there are red cards like Brighton or Man United that is difficult, but the red card against Nottingham Forest and the red card today, both we can avoid. And we have to avoid that.

"It's embarrassing when it's a red card like today. Because it's two yellow cards in five minutes, 10 minutes, I don't know, seven minutes. Both I think we can avoid. So it's not good."

He added: "After the yellow card I told him [Delap] four or five times to keep calm. But Liam is a player that when he's inside the pitch, probably he'll be playing the game for himself and he struggles to realise and to listen around him."

It was very silly from Delap. For his first booking, the £30million striker pulled Yerson Mosquera to the ground, needlessly, and then when the Wolves defender got back to his feet, Delap pushed him back down to the floor.

That was on 79 minutes. Silly yellow card. Now, keep yourself out of the drama in that regard. That is what should have been going through Delap's head, particularly with his manager shouting at him to "calm down" on numerous occasions.

That did not happen. Rather stupidly, Delap jumped up to contest a ball that was not really there for him to win. He backed into Emmanuel Agbadou and referee Thomas Bramall was quick to show him his second booking on 86 minutes. Needless and potentially costly.

Costly because Chelsea travel to Tottenham on Saturday and Delap, who made his return to action on Wednesday evening after two months on the sideline due to a hamstring injury, will serve a one-match suspension. Chelsea had just got their No.9 back after missing him for 11 games, and now he's gone again.

More lapse defending

There was some more poor defending on show from a Chelsea point of view. The first goal they concede is down to Facundo Buonanotte playing a loose pass in a dangerous area. From then on, Wolves are clinical and it is a lovely finish from Tolu Arokodare.

The second, it is another long throw-in. There are a total of three flicks, and in every single one Chelsea do not do well enough, from Wolves before the ball fell to David Moller Wolfe.

It was Moller Wolfe who grabbed Wolves' third of the evening as well. There were just 25 seconds between the hosts restarting the game after Chelsea's fourth goal and for the ball to hit the back of the net down the other end.

A long ball from Jose Sa is met by Jorgen Strand Larsen, who dominated Tosin Adarabioyo in the air in this instance, and his header causes such uncertainty between Moises Caicedo, Josh Acheampong and Jorrel Hato. All three of them do not really know which one of them should be going towards the ball and that leads to an unfortunate ricochet and Moller Wolfe grabbing another at Molineux.

Welcome to Chelsea, Jamie

Jamie Gittens, we hardly knew ya. It felt as if a performance like this had been brewing from the 21-year-old winger. Recent cameos against Liverpool, Nottingham Forest and Sunderland saw Gittens show glimpses of his undeniable talent for the first time, really, since making the £55million move from Borussia Dortmund over the summer.

A start was very much deserved. And he got the full 90 minutes in Wolverhampton, just the second time he has done that since moving to Stamford Bridge.

Gittens was Chelsea's best performer on the evening - and by some margin. He was involved in every good from an attacking sense. Particularly in the first-half, when he produced two superb assists for Andrey Santos and Tyrique George.

The first, he did well to read where the loose ball and skipped past the defender with ease before teeing up Santos, who netted his first goal for the club with a fine finish into the bottom corner. The second, he puts it on a proverbial plate for George, his England Under-21 colleague.

In the second-half, Chelsea spent most of it under the cosh. Gittens, though, restored the Blues' two-goal advantage, albeit for a short period, with a world-class goal - one that left him in shock seemingly with his celebration consisting of the winger putting his hands over his face.

The ball bounced three times before Gittens unleashed a stunner in off the post. His first goal for the club and one he will never forget.

Next up for Chelsea is a trip to fierce rivals Tottenham and Gittens has made a real claim to start in north London. Whether he does or not is a different question, with Maresca preferring Alejandro Garnacho or Pedro Neto from the left-hand side in the Premier League this season.


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