Date :Sunday 26th July,2020
Time: 4:00pm
Stadium Stamford Bridge
Referee Stuart Attwell (England)
Goal Scorer:
Team News:
Chelsea and Wolverhampton Wanderers meet at Stamford Bridge on the final day of the Premier League season with their European fate in their own hands.
Chelsea
The Blues are in possession of the final Champions League qualifying spot and Wolves are in sixth, which would be enough to seal another season of Europa League football.
Has the 2019-20 campaign, Frank Lampard's first as Chelsea head coach, been a successful one for the Blues? That is a question that cannot be answered for another week or so.
Operating under transfer constraints and with star man Eden Hazard no longer at the club, a top-four finish for Chelsea and FA Cup silverware would undoubtedly make this an impressive maiden campaign in the Stamford Bridge dugout for club legend Lampard.
Chelsea can tick off the first of those aims on Sunday with victory against Wolves, which would take them to 66 points for the season - six fewer than they managed in Maurizio Sarri's only campaign at the helm.
Only then can focus turn to next weekend's FA Cup showdown against Arsenal, with the Blues booking their place in the final with a 3-1 victory over Manchester United last week.
The Blues could actually lose on Sunday and still finish in the top four, meanwhile, with the two sides either side of them facing off at the King Power Stadium at the same time.
Manchester United are above Chelsea on goal difference alone, while Leicester City are a point worse off but have a far superior goal difference.
Should Chelsea draw against Wolves then they will be hoping for a Man Utd victory in the East Midlands to stop Leicester from overtaking them in fourth place.
Lampard will be targeting a victory on home soil to ensure that other factors do not come into play, but his side have lost two of their last three league games.
That is as many defeats as they had suffered in their previous 11 outings, with Chelsea's poor defensive setup being exposed by Sheffield United and Liverpool in 3-0 and 5-3 losses.
N'Golo Kante has missed Chelsea's last five matches and remains a major doubt for the final league game of the season, while Fikayo Tomori and Billy Gilmour are definitely out.
Lampard is expected to revert to a four-man backline against Wolves, which will likely mean Cesar Azpilicueta shifting over to the left and Reece James operating at right-back.
Jorginho has returned to the side over the last week and should retain his place for this one, while up top Christian Pulisic seems certain to start after his superb cameo display from the bench at Anfield.
Another pushing for a recall is Tammy Abraham, who has scored in all three of his league appearances against Wolves, netting six goals in total, including a hat-trick in the Blues' 5-2 win in the reverse fixture.
Chelsea possible starting lineup:
Kepa; James, Rudiger, Zouma, Azpilicueta; Kovacic, Jorginho, Mount; Willian, Giroud, Pulisic
Chelsea's Premier League form: LWWLWL
Chelsea's form (all competitions): WWLWWL
Wolves
Wolves will be looking to become the latest side to exploit Chelsea's backline and they head into the game with a bit of momentum on their side after recovering from a recent blip.
Back-to-back losses to Arsenal and Sheff Utd effectively killed off Wanderers' top-four aspirations, but they have since seen off Everton and Crystal Palace, either side of drawing against in-form Burnley.
Like opponents Chelsea, Wolves will have an eye on other results this weekend in their battle to finish above Tottenham Hotspur - one point worse off in seventh - and secure Europa League football.
That will provide Nuno Espirito Santo's men with a safety net of sorts as they could yet be competing in the Champions League next season should they go all the way in this term's Europa League.
Wolves are locked at 1-1 with Olympiacos ahead of their rearranged last-16 second leg early next month and will be eager to keep their momentum going into that match.
As for Wolves, Nuno has no injury or suspension issues ahead of this trip to West London.
Wanderers cannot afford to look ahead to their Europa League tie with Olympiacos just yet, with Nuno needing to name his strongest possible XI on Sunday.
Daniel Podence has impressed since last month's restart and is expected to start again alongside key man Raul Jimenez, making it a shootout between Adama Traore and Diogo Jota for the other spot in attack.
Wolves possible starting lineup:
Patricio; Boly, Coady, Saiss; Doherty, Neves, Moutinho, Jonny; Podence, Jimenez, Jota
Wolves' Premier League form: WLLWDW
Prediction: Chelsea 2-1 Wolves
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