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Wolves 1-3 Chelsea: Cole Palmer hat-trick seals fourth straight Premier League win

Chelsea's winning run continues.
Matt Debono|
IMAGO / Action Plus

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Chelsea FC

Cole Palmer's first-half hat-trick helped Chelsea to a 3-1 victory against Wolves in the Premier League.

Liam Rosenior's side kept touch with Manchester United after securing their fourth league win in a row following a rampant first half.

Wolves' commendable fight back in the second half saw them score a consolation, but that's all it proved to be as their chances of survival took another hit.

On an extremely wet afternoon at Molineux, Chelsea ran riot in the first half to blow Wolves away as Palmer netted a hat-trick on his 100th start for the club.

His first of the afternoon came after 13 minutes when Joao Pedro was fouled inside the box, which Palmer made no mistake of slotting past Jose Sa to give Chelsea the lead.

Cole Palmer, Chelsea
IMAGO / Action Plus

Palmer was fuming not long after as Malo Gusto opted to fire from close range, to which Sa made a fantastic stop to ensure the lead wasn't doubled, instead of squaring it to the England international.

But 10 minutes before half-time, Joao Pedro was naively pushed, once again, inside the box by Yerson Mosquera. Palmer stepped up and put his penalty the opposite side of Sa to double the advantage and score his 50th for the club.

Palmer wasn't finished there. Three minutes later, he completed his first-half hat-trick - the first player to score three of them in the competition's history. An excellent move from the Blues, who completed a total of 16 passes prior to the final shot, saw Marc Cucurella pull it back for Palmer, who converted from close range to put the game out of sight before the interval.

Wolves showed more optimism in the second half and they were rewarded in the 55th minute. Chelsea were undone by a set-piece as Tolu Arokodare found the back of the net from close range to reduce the deficit to two.

Chelsea's first change of the game came in the 61st minute when Palmer, who has been seeing his minutes managed, was replaced by Alejandro Garnacho.

Rosenior's side were unable to put the game to bed as Wolves rallied out until the end.

Andrey Santos offered Chelsea a slight scare after being replaced by Jorrel Hato having picked up a knock, which the Blues will hope is not of major concern.

Andrey Santos, Chelsea
IMAGO / Action Plus

Pedro Neto missed a sitter three minutes from time against his former club. Enzo Fernandez clipped a ball to the back post, but the Portugal international was unable to steer his unmarked header on target.

But the Blues managed to hold out for the victory. The lack of the clean sheet will disappoint the visitors, but a fourth win in a row for Rosenior and Chelsea in the league keeps their strong form going.

The star of the show was Cole Palmer, who will get the plaudits from Saturday's victory, offering Chelsea a huge boost in attack as the business end of the season approaches.

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Matt Debono
MATT DEBONO

Matt Debono leads the editorial team which covers Chelsea On SI. He has witnessed Chelsea win it all, whilst also featuring on ITV News, SPORTbible and various other publications.

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