It was a tight affair between the two sides on a cold night in the Midlands, with the first half ambling by with little in the way of clear-cut goalmouth action.

Giroud was frustrated with himself for not scoring with a header and Kurt Zouma crashed one of his own against the crossbar, but it wasn’t until after the interval that the game really came to life.

A crashing volley broke the deadlock as our veteran striker converted from Ben Chilwell’s cross but the lead didn’t last long before Daniel Podence curled a finish into the corner with the aid of a slight Reece James deflection.

Wolves got stronger as the game wore on and snatched a winner late in stoppage time when Pedro Neto broke forward on the counter-attack and found the bottom corner.

The selection

Christian Pulisic started his first Premier League game since October in the only change to the Chelsea starting line-up from the weekend defeat at Everton. The American replaced Mateo Kovacic in the side, with Kai Havertz reverting back to a more central midfield role.

The settled back five remained unchanged, with Premier League ever-present N’Golo Kante joining Mason Mount, who scored on this ground last season, in midfield.

Wolves made two changes from their own loss on Saturday. With Joao Moutinho suspended following a sending-off against Aston Villa, the hosts brought back Ruben Neves and Willy Boly, returning to their more familiar 3-4-2-1 system.

Tentative first knockings

Chelsea were looking to bounce back from Merseyside misery with a win in Wolverhampton, sure in the knowledge that three points would take us top of the Premier League ahead of Liverpool’s hosting of Tottenham on Wednesday night.

Yet after a sloppy start at Goodison three days previously that left Frank Lampard frustrated, the opening exchanges here were cagey and tentative.

It took the Blues 15 minutes to engineer a first sight at goal, Pulisic advancing to the left byline and cutting the ball back invitingly for Timo Werner, though the German failed to make sufficient contact with his strike. After a cautious opening, the visitors were starting to wrestle control of the contest.

Chelsea corners bring danger

Set-pieces have frequently proved a route to goal for Lampard’s side this season – seven goals scored from corners is a Premier League high - and it looked like that may be the case again midway through the first half when Chilwell swung in a corner from the right.

In the six-yard box, Giroud had escaped his marker to find half a yard of space and got up to meet the flight of the delivery, but his header was disappointing for a striker so accomplished in the air.

Down the other end, Edouard Mendy was forced into his first action of the night when he dropped low to his right to push behind Neto’s smart volley following a lovely flicked lay-off from Fabio Silva, the home side’s striker. The 18-year-old was coming up against his namesake Thiago Silva, a man twice his age, and the teenager was showing some neat touches without troubling the Chelsea goal.

There were a few more scares in and around the Wolves box before the end of the half, firstly when Conor Coady survived a VAR check for handball. Pulisic, having switched flanks to the right, then danced past a few gold shirts in a flash of energy from which he won a corner.

Mount delivered the set-piece and Zouma sprung higher than anyone to power a header towards the top corner but the French defender was denied by the crossbar. After striking the woodwork twice at the weekend, it was a familiar feeling of frustration for the visitors.

Oli on the volley

The statistics offered hope that the second half would provide the game’s breakthrough, Wolves having scored two-thirds of their league goals since the start of last season after the break, while Chelsea came into the game with the most second-half goals scored in the Premier League this campaign.

A bright restart saw that tally extended to 18 and Giroud’s individual total for 2019/20 move up to eight, with there being no surprises to see the breakthrough fashioned from the left-hand side. The ever-adventurous Chilwell galloped forward and delivered low in towards the near post, where Giroud met the ball with a typically thunderous first-time volley.

Rui Patricio looked to have done enough to keep the powerful effort out but the ball squirmed out of his grasp and the goal-line technology quickly ruled that the ball had crossed the line to rubber-stamp our lead.

Short-lived lead

Just like the Blues, Wolves also have a habit of coming alive in the second half and their belief didn’t waver despite falling behind. Silva had the ball in the back of the net but was denied by the offside flag, though it took just 17 minutes for Nuno Espirito Santo’s team to restore parity.

There was some dispute in the build-up to the equaliser after Wolves were awarded a corner despite the ball appearing to come off Boly instead of Thiago Silva at the front post. Within seconds, Mendy was picking the ball out of the back of his net as Podence cut inside Chilwell and found the corner with a curling effort aided by a deflection off James.

With a quarter still remaining, the balance of the game then shifted from end to end, though it was Wolves with some of the best opportunities. Nelson Semedo ought to have done better after advancing into the box from right wing-back but opted to pass rather than shoot from a decent position.

With nine minutes remaining, Neto won his side a penalty but won proved to be the operative word as replays of the incident showed there was no contact with James’s trailing leg. After consulting with the pitchside monitor, referee Stuart Attwell changed his on-field decision and left Lampard’s men sighing with relief.

Neto finds the net to win it

That relief didn’t last long though as the hosts snatched all three points five minutes into stoppage time. With Chelsea piling forward in search of a winner of their own, Neto broke forward down the inside-left channel, skipped into space alongside Zouma and angled a smart finish across Mendy and into the bottom corner.

It was a cruel end to a competitive contest and leaves the Blues without a point from their two league outings in the past four days.

What’s next?

A very rare and very welcome six-day break until our next outing, which is a London derby at home to West Ham next Monday evening. That will begin a run of four league matches in 14 days over the festive period for the Blues.

Chelsea (4-3-3) Mendy; James, Zouma, Thiago Silva (c), Chilwell; Kante, Mount, Havertz (Kovacic 71); Pulisic, Giroud (Abraham 71), WernerUnused subs Kepa, Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Jorginho, GilmourScorer Giroud 49Booked Mount 61; Kante 85

Wolverhampton Wanderers Rui Patricio; Boly, Coady (c), Saiss; Semedo, Dendoncker (Otasowie h/t), Neves, Marcal; Podence (Vitinha 90), Silva (Traore 61), NetoUnused subs Ruddy, Hoever, Kilman, Ait-NouriScorers Podence 66; Neto 90+5Booked Podence 77; Semedo 90+4

Referee Stuart Attwell