After being repeatedly booed by the home crowd due to a negative social media post about Wolverhampton, Noni Madueke made a strong comeback with a second-half hat trick, helping Chelsea secure its first Premier League win under manager Enzo Maresca.
Madueke scored three goals in just 14 minutes, with all of them assisted by Cole Palmer, leading Chelsea to a 6-2 victory over Wolves on Sunday. The match had a chaotic feel, which matched the current atmosphere at Chelsea.
This impressive performance in the second half suggested that Maresca might be figuring out how to best use his attacking players. It also overshadowed Liverpool’s more routine 2-0 win against Brentford in new manager Arne Slot’s debut at Anfield.
Madueke’s hat trick came after he had made headlines earlier with an Instagram post that used strong language to criticize “everything about this place” after Chelsea arrived in Wolverhampton.
Although he later deleted the post, Wolves fans made their displeasure known by booing him whenever they could.
This reaction from the fans may have backfired.
After Chelsea had given up the lead twice in an eventful first half, which included Palmer’s inventive long-range lob for their second goal, Madueke ensured Wolves could not recover in the second half.
All of Madueke’s goals had a similar pattern, with Palmer finding him on the right side of the area. Madueke then beat goalkeeper Jose Sa with a shot from an angle, with the first goal taking a deflection before going inside the far post.
