Cole Palmer scored a hat-trick within 25 first-half minutes as Chelsea defeated Wolves 3-1 at Molineux.

The Blues have now won their first four league games under Liam Rosenior, though his team had some generous Wolves defending to thank after taking control in the first half.

Palmer scored the first of two penalties in the 13th minute, after Matt Doherty's unnecessary trip on Joao Pedro.

And he tucked away another spot-kick in the 35th minute, with Joao Pedro again proving a thorn in Wolves' side as he was shoved just inside the area by Yerson Mosquera. 

Palmer had the match ball secured three minutes later, sweeping high into the net after Marc Cucurella got to the byline to pick him out, and the struggling hosts were booed off by their own supporters at the interval.

Wolves improved markedly after the break, with Mateus Mane striking the post with an audacious outside-of-the-boot effort in the 54th minute.

Wolves did get a goal back 26 seconds after that near miss, with Tolu Arokodare bundling home after Adam Armstrong flicked Mane's corner into his path, but they were unable to force a nervy finale.   

While Chelsea move back within a point of fourth-placed Manchester United, sitting fifth in the table, Wolves are still rooted to the bottom, a whopping 18 points adrift of safety.

Data Debrief: Palmer makes Premier League hat-trick history

Palmer has now scored three first-half hat-tricks in the Premier League, having previously accomplished the feat against Everton in April 2024 and Brighton in September 2024.

He is the first player to ever do so on three occasions, while he is also responsible for three of the last four instances of a player scoring a Premier League hat-trick by the 40-minute mark – the other was Omar Marmoush versus Newcastle United in February 2025.

Rosenior is now just the second English manager to win each of his first four games in charge in the competition, after Craig Shakespeare won his first five with Leicester City between February and April 2017.

Wolves at least improved after half-time, finishing with 11 shots and 1.09 expected goals (xG), having only had two shots and 0.12 xG by the interval. 

However, conceding those early spot-kicks proved costly as Chelsea racked up 15 shots and 3.16 xG.