Having led for much of the second half, Chelsea so nearly dropped two points when Wolves managed to levell late in the game.

Andre Villas-Boas was forced by injuries to adopt an experimental 4-3-3 line-up from the start,with Ramires on the right wing.

And the formation suited the Brazilian, who applied his characteristic hard-work to his new position.

Chelsea got forward well in the first half: with Fernando Torres several times becoming provider; though without a target-man in the box, Blues seldom looked really threatening.

The home fans voiced their displeasure when Frank Lampard was shown a only yellow for what looked like a reckless challenge on Adam Hammill.

And moments later, they were again in uproar as Karl Henry was cautioned for what replays showed to be a contact-free incident with Torres.

After the break Chelsea seemed to lift their efforts going forward.

A corner from Juan Mata eight minutes from the re-start found Ramires very nearly on the penalty spot – and he unleashed a bullet of a shot into the roof of the net.

The goal resulted in a celebration of note: with Chelsea's Portuguese-speaking players leading the rush over to embrace Andre Villas-Boas in the technical area. They were joined by a number of other stars, but Torres and Lampard particularly were nowhere to be seen.

Chelsea looked well on top, but that didn't stop the same old mistakes creeping in.

With just over five minutes left on the clock, Matt Jarvis lobbed the ball into the Blues' box, sub Steven Fletcher evaded Jose Bosingwa to knock it on, and Stephen Ward rifled home from the penalty spot.

It was looking like another case of Chelsea in capitulation.

However, with one minute of normal time on the clock, Torres made the latest in what had been an afternoon of fantastic passes from him. It picked out Ashley Cole on the left, who squared for Lampard to poke home.

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