Both haunted by gut-wrenching midweek defeats, Chelsea and Wolverhampton Wanderers bid to right their recent wrongs in Sunday's mid-table Premier League battle at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues were torn to shreds in a 4-1 loss to Liverpool last time out, while Gary O'Neil's men went down 4-3 to Manchester United after a dose of extraordinary late drama.
Match preview
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While making the long trek to Anfield for Wednesday's Premier League affair, Chelsea fans were unaware that they had inadvertently purchased tickets to the Conor Bradley show, as Liverpool's 20-year-old right-back helped put the Blues to the sword with a masterful Merseyside performance.
Liverpool deservedly entered the tunnel 2-0 up at half time thanks to Diogo Jota bulldozing his way through before Bradley fired home across goal, and the latter then banked his second assist for Dominik Szoboszlai in the second 45, where Luis Diaz exacerbated the Blues' blues.
Christopher Nkunku did manage to conjure up a consolation for Chelsea, who arguably should have been awarded a pair of spot kicks at Anfield, but Pochettino's men were only spared a more humiliating scoreline by Darwin Nunez's record-breaking profligacy, as the Uruguayan struck the woodwork on four occasions.
Whether Wednesday's result foreshadows another unsuccessful EFL Cup final against Liverpool for the Blues remains to be seen, but before the Wembley stopover takes precedence, the 10th-placed West London outfit bid to rise two places into eighth spot, which they will achieve with a win if Newcastle United and Brighton & Hove Albion both fail to prevail on Saturday.
Results on the road are still leaving a lot to be desired for those of a Chelsea persuasion, but Pochettino's men have now gone 10 games without defeat at their Stamford Bridge headquarters, triumphing in seven successive home matches before being taken to an FA Cup replay by Aston Villa.
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As is the case with their more esteemed hosts, Wolves were also made to pay for shipping four goals in their midweek encounter with Manchester United, although unlike Liverpool's battering of Chelsea, the Molineux meeting was not a foregone conclusion until the final few moments.
After a shoddy first half from Gary O'Neil's men, who conceded to Marcus Rashford and Rasmus Hojlund before the break, a debatable Pablo Sarabia penalty breathed new life into the hosts, only for Scott McTominay to seemingly extinguish that hope mere seconds after entering the fray.
Nevertheless, a phenomenal Wolves fightback was ostensibly complete when Max Kilman and Pedro Neto found a way past Andre Onana, only for Man United's celebrated starboy Kobbie Mainoo to curl home a wonderful injury-time winner in front of the dumbstruck Molineux faithful.
A few players clad in Wolves colours dropped to their knees as Mainoo's goal ended their seven-game unbeaten run in all tournaments and left them 11th in the rankings - just one place and two points behind their upcoming opponents - and only 11 of their 29 Premier League points thus far this term have been won on the road.
However, O'Neil's players were spreading festive cheer around Molineux on Christmas Eve with a 2-1 victory over Chelsea, who have only won one of their last seven Premier League matches against the West Midlands side, although it was a resounding 3-0 success at Stamford Bridge in the 2022-23 season.
Team News
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Despite Senegal's early elimination from the Africa Cup of Nations, Nicolas Jackson was not integrated back into Pochettino's squad in time for the loss to Liverpool, but the striker will be expected to make his domestic comeback versus Wolves, who lost out to Fulham for the loan signing of Armando Broja.
However, the hosts are still without Levi Colwill, who missed the Anfield defeat with a tendon problem, while Lesley Ugochukwu (hamstring), Wesley Fofana (knee), Marc Cucurella (ankle), Reece James (thigh), Romeo Lavia (thigh), Robert Sanchez (knee) and Trevoh Chalobah (thigh) remain unavailable too.
All of Jackson, Nkunku and Malo Gusto should come into Pochettino's thinking for Sunday's game after their Merseyside disaster, where Conor Gallagher, Noni Madueke and Ben Chilwell - who was booked for diving during a horrendous cameo - were taken off during the interval.
In contrast, the Wolves doctors can afford to put their feet up with no injured players to treat at the minute, but Mali's Boubacar Traore and South Korea's Hwang Hee-chan are still competing for continental glory with their countries.
However, with fewer than 72 hours to play around with in between fixtures, O'Neil must carefully assess the fitness of his squad and should not shy away from a change or two, most likely starting with a recall for Rayan Ait-Nouri on the left flank.
Tommy Doyle's spot in the engine room is also under threat from Joao Gomes, while Sarabia's calmly-taken penalty will boost his chances of displacing Jean-Ricner Bellegarde in the final third.
Chelsea possible starting lineup:
Petrovic; Disasi, Silva, Badiashile, Gusto; Caicedo, Fernandez; Palmer, Nkunku, Sterling; Jackson
Wolverhampton Wanderers possible starting lineup:
Sa; Kilman, Dawson, Toti; Semedo, Lemina, Gomes, Ait-Nouri; Sarabia, Neto; Cunha
We say: Chelsea 2-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Neither set of defenders covered themselves in glory during the week, but an extra 24 hours of rest will be of major benefit to a Chelsea side who have come up with the goods at home more often than not in recent weeks.
O'Neil's Wolves are not to be taken lightly - as evidenced by their December 24 beating of the Blues - but it has been 45 years since the visitors last emerged triumphant at Stamford Bridge, and that sequence ought to be prolonged as Chelsea's rejigged attacking unit work their magic.
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Ben Knapton
