Chelsea blew a two-goal lead in front of new owner Todd Boehly as Wolves snatched a dramatic 2-2 draw on Saturday to put the Blues Champions League hopes on the ice.
The consortium led by Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner Boehly finally won the battle to buy Chelsea in a £4.25 billion ($5.2 billion) deal after several weeks of delay.
Roman Abramovich put the west London club on the market in early March, just days before he was sanctioned by the British government following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
But Tuchel’s third-placed team were unable to celebrate the deal with a victory as they squandered an opportunity to move closer to qualifying for next season’s Champions League via a top-four finish.
Romelu Lukaku got a surprise start in the attack alongside Timo Werner and Christian Pulisic while N’Golo Kante and Jorginho missed out through injury.
Werner nearly got the breakthrough inside the opening five minutes after weaving his way into the box before unleashing a left-footed strike that was kept out by Jose Sa.
The Blues had the ball in the back of the net on 33 minutes when Werner fired home from close range, but celebrations were cut short after the German forward was judged to have fouled Roman Saiss.
The home side had another goal disallowed just before the break when Ruben Loftus-Cheek bundled the ball home, but the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) came to Wolves’ rescue as the goal was ruled offside.
Wolves should have went ahead on the stroke of halftime when the ball fell kindly to Leander Dendoncker in the box, but the midfielder blazed over with the net gaping.
Chelsea were handed a lifeline when after being awarded a penalty for Saiss’ foul on Lukaku, who stepped up and calmly slotted into the bottom corner on 55 minutes.
Lukaku doubled the lead two minutes when Pulisic pounced on an error to play in the Belgian striker, who sent fine right-footed strike into the far corner from the edge of the box.
Wolves were presented with a chance to pull a goal back in the 74th minute when Hwang Hee-Chan was slipped through on goal, but goalkeeper Edouard Mendy rushed off his line to make the save.
The visitors did reduce the deficit four minutes later as substitute Trincao cut in from the from right flank and rifled the ball into the top corner from the edge of the box.
However, Wolves got the all-important equaliser in the 96th minute thanks to a towering header from Captain Conor Coady to earn Wovlves a share of the spoils.
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