After successive home victories in the Carabao Cup so far this season, Vitor Pereira’s side are back at Molineux for a fourth round tie against Chelsea and wolves.co.uk has previewed Wednesday evening’s clash.
1 | Roll Call
Last time out against Everton, Pereira made wholesale changes to his starting line-up from the 11 which began the previous Premier League outing against Leeds United, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if the Portuguese did the same again on Wednesday evening. Jose Sa has been an unused substitute since that Leeds match after Sam Johnstone retained the number one spot following his introduction in the third round, so could be in line for an outing, while Tolu Arokodare will be looking to build on his goal in the last round. Players who have not featured much in the last few matches, such as Emmanuel Agbadou, Toti, David Moller Wolfe and Fer Lopez will be hoping for minutes.
Despite making 10 changes to his Chelsea team for their midweek game against Ajax following their previous Premier League victory over Nottingham Forest, the Blues were comfortable winners in their Champions League group stage clash, and it would not come as a shock to many if Enzo Maresca went with a similar youthful line-up at Molineux on Wednesday. With Cole Palmer, Levi Colwill and Benoit Badiashile all long-term absentees, the Blues were handed a boost this week with striker Liam Delap returning to training, but whether he’ll be fit in time for a visit to Molineux, is yet to be seen.
2 | The Stat Pack
Goals
- Jorgen Strand Larsen | 3
- Enzo Fernandez | 4
Assists
- Marshall Munetsi | 1
- Joao Pedro | 3
Biggest win
- Wolves 2-0 Everton | September 2025
- West Ham United 1-5 Chelsea | August 2025
Yellow cards
- Joao Gomes | 4
- Andrey Santos | 4
Clean sheets
- Sam Johnstone | 1
- Robert Sanchez | 5
Midweek @Carabao_Cup action at Molineux. ⏳ pic.twitter.com/NXsP6PPlpb
— Wolves (@Wolves) October 27, 2025
3 | Journey to Wednesday
Although they are still searching for their first Premier League win of the season, Pereira’s side are currently two for two in the Carabao Cup at Molineux this season, thanks to successive wins over top flight opposition. You have to go all the way back to 2020 to find the last time Wolves lost a home match in the competition, having won their last seven Carabao games at Molineux. Two of those came this season, as Jorgen Strand Larsen’s brace off the bench secured a come from behind win over West Ham United, before Tolu Arokodare’s first Wolves goal against Everton, following Marshall Munetsi’s opener, set up this evening’s match.
Although they suffered defeat in the Premier League to Sunderland at the weekend, Chelsea have been securing the victories in cup competitions. Their Champions League exploits, which have already seen the Blues taste victory over Benfica and Ajax – with the latter being a 5-1 hammering last week, Chelsea entered the Carabao Cup in the third round and despite suffering an early shock against Lincoln City in the last stage of the competition, Maresca’s side managed to come-from-behind to secure a 2-1 win.
4 | Last cup meeting at Molineux
Wolves have only faced Chelsea in the League Cup once before, with the Blues claiming victory at Stamford Bridge back in 2012, so Wednesday’s clash will be the first meeting at Molineux between the sides in the competition. However, the teams did go head-to-head in the Black Country in the FA Cup during the 2016/17 season.
The season before their successful Championship title winning campaign, Wolves hosted then-Premier League leaders Chelsea in the fourth round of the FA Cup, but despite a positive performance from the Old Gold, it was the side from west London which progressed into the quarter-finals.
Wolves repeatedly tested Chelsea’s defence and also saw George Saville lash an early strike against the post, but goals from Pedro and future Old Hold striker Diego Costa saw the visitors put their name in the hat for the next round.
Wolves | Ikeme, Coady, Batth, Hause, Doherty, Saville, Edwards, Price, Costa, Weimann, Bodvarsson.
Chelsea | Begovic, Ake, Terry, Zouma, Chalobah, Fabregas, Pedro, Moses, Willian, Hazard, Costa.
