Wolves 3-4 Chelsea, EFL Cup 2025-26: Blues Seal Quarter-Final Spot In Seven-Goal Thriller At Molineux

Chelsea edged into the EFL Cup quarter-final, piling more misery on struggling Wolves with a 4-3 win at Molineux on Wednesday.

It took Andrey Santos just five minutes to open the scoring; Jamie Gittens intercepted a poor touch before shrugging off his marker and laying it off to the Brazilian, who slotted his effort into the bottom-right corner.

Just 10 minutes later, Wolves were carved open again. Gittens beat Matt Doherty for pace down the left before squaring it across goal to Tyrique George, who was left with a simple tap-in into an empty net.

Chelsea got their third four minutes before the break, with Santos pouncing on another Wolves mistake to set up Estevao, who chipped Jose Sa with a stunning effort.

Tolu Arokodare headed wide on the stroke of half-time but pulled Wolves' first goal back in the 48th minute, racing in behind Chelsea's centre-backs to pick out the bottom-right corner with his strike across goal.

Wolves continued to push, with Jorgen Strand Larsen seeing his scuffed volley tipped wide by Jorgensen, before a long throw-in caused problems, with David Moller Wolfe getting the telling touch.

Liam Delap, on his return from injury, saw red just 25 minutes after his 61st-minute introduction, receiving two bookings for catching an opponent with a raised elbow during aerial challenges.

Despite being a man down, Gittens looked to have secured the victory for Chelsea, putting his laces through an excellent strike that went in off the post in the 89th minute. Wolfe, however, set up a nervy ending with his deflected looping effort two minutes later, but Wolves could not find an equaliser.

Data Debrief: Chelsea put on the ropes

Wolves are yet to win in the Premier League this season, but they certainly put up a fight to continue their EFL Cup journey, though their second-half comeback fell just short.

Chelsea won 6-0 the last time these sides met in the competition in September 2012, and after racking up eight shots in the first half, scoring with all three on target, it looked like that scoreline was on the cards again.

The Blues finished the game with 2.41 expected goals (xG) from 11 shots, with 2.08 of that coming in the first half, while Wolves had 1.23 xG from their 15 attempts.

Chelsea held out, though, ensuring they did not miss out on the quarter-finals for the second consecutive season, while ending their hosts' seven-game winning streak at home in the EFL Cup.