English Premier League Preview: Chelsea Have No Reason To Worry Over Wolves’ Visit To Stamford Bridge

The champions may have dropped points to Aston Villa last week, but Chelsea are still in full control of the league. Wolverhampton, meanwhile, have a mere six points, but they can find comfort in the fact that they’re on top of West Ham and Liverpool. Wolves haven’t won since the opening game of the season when they took all three points from visitors Stoke, and it’s nearly impossible to believe that streak will change this weekend. With Didier Drogba fit after last week’s fever, and Jose Bosingwa returning to the lineup, Wolves will be happy to walk away from Stamford Bridge without doing too much damage to their goal difference.

Projected Linuep, Chelsea (4-3-3): Cech—Cole, Terry, Ivanovic, Bosingwa—Mikel, Zhirkov, Essien—Malouda, Drogba, Anelka

Projected Lineup, Wolves (4-5-1): Hahnemann—Ward, Berra, Stearman, Foley—Jarvis, Milijas, Jones, Edwards, Fletcher—Doyle

Key Battle: The Wolves wingers are going to have a tough time containing the Chelsea fullbacks. The Blues have missed Bosingwa, who has been sidelined for the past year, on their right side. Now that he’s back in the lineup, Matt Jarvis will need to work hard to close him down, or risk all hell breaking loose on that side—just as we’ve seen from Chelsea’s left side, where the Ashley Cole - Florent Malouda partnership is dangerous.

Battle Within The Battle: Mick McCarthy is still struggling to overcome his club’s über-physical reputation, but with Karl Henry sitting on the sidelines reminding the world of his crunching tackle on Jordi Gomez, it’s probably a losing battle for McCarthy. Besides, how else are Wolves going to stop the likes of Drogba, Malouda and Michael Essien?

Pick: 5-0 to the Chelsea.