Enzo Maresca lambasted Liam Delap for his “very stupid red card” and called on his young squad to “grow up”. Chelsea, 3-0 up at half-time, managed to turn this into a topsy-turvy tie that earned them a Carabao Cup quarter-final tie at Cardiff, but has cost them the services of their striker for Saturday’s game at Tottenham.
The Chelsea manager had no sympathy for Delap who, returning as a substitute after two months out with a hamstring injury, was dismissed for collecting two similar yellow cards in seven late minutes.
Wolves, despite extending a poor start to the season, ended up in credit. The Premier League’s bottom side battled fiercely to regain some pride, getting applauded by supporters who had booed them off from Sunday’s defeat by Burnley.
Two goals from David Møller Wolfe, after Tolu Arokodare had brought the score back to 3-1, gave their supporters heart, but superb goals from Andrey Santos, Tyrique George, Estêvão and Jamie Gittens always suggested Chelsea had too much class.
Delap, introduced as a 60th-minute substitute, was booked for pushing Yerson Mosquera off the ball and then jumping into Emmanuel Agbadou as Wolves turned this into a fight. The teams meet again, in the league, at Stamford Bridge a week on Saturday. That should be fun.
