Saturday afternoon saw Chelsea suffer a disappointing 2-2 draw to Wolves that felt to many, including Thomas Tuchel, like a loss.
The Blues took a two goal lead through Romelu Lukaku after an hour of dominance from the home side with many expecting a clean sheet from Edouard Mendy and co.
With 15 minutes left on the clock however, the west London side crumbled to a stunning strike from Francisco Trincao and a last-gasp header from Conor Coady, sacrificing the three points on the day.
As Chelsea look towards their last Premier League game before their FA Cup final tie with Liverpool on Saturday, here are three things the Blues need to learn from their Wolves clash:
1. Chelsea need to find their perfect front three
£97.5 million man Romelu Lukaku grabbed all the headlines on Saturday with his brace marking his first and second goal of 2022 in the Premier League.
Despite costing the European champions so much, he has struggled to fit into their team and has recently been replaced by a starting front three of Mason Mount, Kai Havertz and Timo Werner.
While the trio provide a combination of pace, creativity and finishing, their results are often somewhat up-and-down, potentially due to their youth and inexperience.
Lukaku showed on Saturday that he is not completely out of the running for a place in Chelsea’s squad, coming to life in the second half to register his side’s only two goals.
With his two goals, he became his side’s top goalscorer across all competitions this season with 14 goals from 14 appearances.
If Chelsea want to break through Liverpool’s tight defence, they will have to make sure their attacking trio is selected perfectly.
2. Chelsea need to avoid conceding last minute goals
Chelsea have conceded a number of last minute goals this season that have hampered a lot of their progress.
Last month, the Blues were 3-0 up against Real Madrid and a place in the Champions League semi-final looked set.
However, a goal from Rodrygo with 10 minutes to go sealed extra time for Los Blancos and a comeback from Karim Benzema knocked Thomas Tuchel’s side out of the competition.
Earlier in the season, the Blues conceded a 91st minute goal to Danny Welbeck in their 1-1 draw with Brighton, denying them from the three points.
Saturday afternoon’s comeback was the latest in a series of fumbles from Chelsea this season that have hampered their progress.
The club have the most number of draws inside the top 8 this season, alongside Manchester United with 10 draws.
3. Creativity is key
Chelsea dominated possession for the majority of their tie with Wolves, but they had relatively few chances considering how much of the ball they had.
“It’s not about dropping too much, it’s about where we were losing the ball and the opponent taking a crazy approach,” was Thomas Tuchel’s assessment of the clash.
“Big chances that we don’t create, the pass is missing, the dribbling is wrong. At some point we played like we were 2-0 down not 2-0 up.
“We tried to change the structure, I don’t know if that was the right decision from me, I need to watch it back.”
The Blues need to do more in the midfield, which should come with the return of Mason Mount’s creativity and Kai Havertz’s movement.
As Wednesday’s game approaches, with the FA Cup final just behind, Chelsea need to correct some of their key areas if they want to finish the season strong.
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