Noni Madueke plundered a second-half hat-trick as Enzo Maresca claimed his first Premier League win as Chelsea boss in emphatic fashion, with the Blues dispatching Wolves 6-2.
It was all square at the break, with Matheus Cunha and Jorgen Strand Larsen cancelling out Nicolas Jackson and Cole Palmer's goals in a thrilling first half at Molineux.
Madueke put the game beyond Wolves' reach, though, netting a 14-minute hat-trick from a trio of Palmer assists before new signing Joao Felix added further gloss for the visitors.
Cunha and Mario Lemina had a goal each ruled out for the hosts, but Gary O'Neil's team were cut open at the back and ultimately soundly beaten.
Chelsea's victory takes them into the top half as one of seven teams on three points, while Wolves are 19th after two defeats.
Data Debrief: Blues find their groove
Maresca got his first Premier League win in style, and he is the first manager in the competition's history to see his team score six goals in his first away game.
Madueke, who helped to seal Maresca's first win on Thursday, has now scored more goals in Wolverhampton (three) than he has at Stamford Bridge (two in 18 games).
It is also just the fifth time that a player has assisted a team-mate's hat-trick in the Premier League, with Palmer finishing the day with three assists and one goal.
As for Wolves, they accumulated a higher expected goals tally (1.92) than Chelsea (1.56), but could not prevent themselves from being on the wrong end of a thrashing.
Liverpool 2-0 Brentford: Slot marks first match at Anfield in style
Liverpool boss Arne Slot made himself at home at Anfield as goals from Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah secured a 2-0 victory over Brentford.
After winning by the same scoreline away at Ipswich Town last week, Slot saw his team dominate much of Sunday’s encounter to keep up their perfect record to start the 2024-25 Premier League season.
Slot waited just 13 minutes for his first home game to spark into life – Diogo Jota leading a rapid counter-attack from a Brentford corner before laying it off to Diaz, who lashed in beyond Mark Flekken to mark his 100th Reds appearance in style.
Flekken and Nathan Collins combined to keep Liverpool at bay in the second half, while Brentford – who were again without Ivan Toney – went close through Kristoffer Ajer at the other end.
However, Liverpool’s dominance finally told when Diaz turned provider for the Reds’ second, which was expertly guided home by Salah with 20 minutes remaining.
Cody Gakpo’s deflected effort struck the crossbar late on, as the Reds joined Manchester City, Brighton and Arsenal on two wins from as many matches.
Data Debrief: Slot makes himself at home
Slot is the first Liverpool manager to win his first two league matches in charge since Graeme Souness in April 1991.
Stretching back to last season, Liverpool have now scored in each of their last six league games, scoring 15 goals during that run.
Liverpool 2-0 Brentford: Slot marks first match at Anfield with win
Liverpool boss Arne Slot made himself at home at Anfield as goals from Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah secured a 2-0 victory over Brentford.
After winning by the same scoreline away at Ipswich Town last week, Slot saw his team dominate much of Sunday’s encounter to keep up their perfect record to start the 2024-25 Premier League season.
Slot waited just 13 minutes for his first home game to spark into life – Diogo Jota leading a rapid counter-attack from a Brentford corner before laying it off to Diaz, who lashed in beyond Mark Flekken to mark his 100th Reds appearance in style.
Flekken and Nathan Collins combined to keep Liverpool at bay in the second half, while Brentford – who were again without Ivan Toney – went close through Kristoffer Ajer at the other end.
However, Liverpool’s dominance finally told when Diaz turned provider for the Reds’ second, which was expertly guided home by Salah with 20 minutes remaining.
Cody Gakpo’s deflected effort struck the crossbar late on, as the Reds joined Manchester City, Brighton and Arsenal on two wins from as many matches.
Data Debrief:
Jota has contributed to goals in his last 3 games in the Premier League (2 goals, 1 assist).
Slot is the first Liverpool manager to win his first two league matches in charge since Graeme Souness in April 1991.
Stretching back to last season, Liverpool have now scored in each of their last six league games, scoring 15 goals during that run.
'He is cold and I am fire' - Madueke hails Palmer link-up after Wolves thrashing
Noni Madueke believes his link-up with Cole Palmer is perfectly balanced after he set him up for a hat-trick in their 6-2 thrashing of Wolves.
Enzo Maresca earned his first Premier League win thanks to Madueke's 14-minute hat-trick, after Matheus Cunha and Jorgen Strand Larsen had cancelled out Nicolas Jackson and Palmer's goals in the first half. New signing Joao Felix then rounded off a superb display for the Blues with 10 minutes remaining.
It is the fifth time that a player has assisted each goal for a team-mate's hat-trick in the Premier League, and Madueke was pleased with how well they complimented each other on Sunday.
"It is unbelievable. He is cold, and I am fire, so it mixes well," Madueke told PLP.
"He has the ability to always play a pass at the right time. I like to get the ball in space, beat people and make things happen, so luckily today it worked.
"The first [goal] was a bit lucky. Second one was all Cole Palmer; two brilliant passes, with the weight of pass I just had to step onto the ball and score.
"I'm made up for the hat-trick, but more made up we won the game."
Madueke was the subject of ire from the home fans after posting a now-deleted Instagram post with a less-than-complimentary opinion about the city of Wolverhampton.
"I just want to apologise to everyone that I might have offended," he added. "It is just a human mistake, an accident.
"It wasn't meant to be out on my socials like that. I'm sure Wolverhampton is a nice town, and I'm sorry."
Maresca is the first manager in Premier League history to see his team score six goals in his first away game in the competition. Despite being pleased by the emphatic nature of the win, Maresca admitted there were still improvements to be made.
"The performance was good. I think the first half was not a complete performance, we started well in the first 10 to 15 minutes, we scored a goal and had two or three more chances," he told Sky Sports.
"Then we lost a few easy balls. When you want to build from behind you cannot allow yourself to lose easy balls, otherwise you concede set pieces and counter-attacks. You need to be more accurate. Overall, the performance was good."
Meanwhile, Wolves sit at the bottom of the early standings having failed to win their first two games, stretching their losing run to five matches in the Premier League.
After a bright first-half performance that twice saw Wolves come from behind to level the score, Gary O'Neil was left frustrated with the easy nature of Chelsea's goals in the second half.
"We gave Chelsea a lot of help, so there is an awful lot I need to fix," O'Neil told BBC Sport.
"They were unacceptable [mistakes] from us. I am all for positivity and when the lads do well, they know they have done well, but from all of us as a group, to concede those three goals as we do is unacceptable."
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
