Thomas Tuchel has given Romelu Lukaku the cold shoulder despite the Belgian scoring twice against Wolves to put Chelsea in control of Saturday's Premier League clash.
The Blues conceded twice late on to throw away the advantage that Lukaku had given them. It means Tuchel's men have now gone three top-flight games without a win, following a draw at Manchester United and a defeat to Everton.
Ironically, it had been one of Lukaku's best performances since he returned to Stamford Bridge in a club-record move from Inter Milan. So far, it has been a comeback to forget for Lukaku, who before Saturday had scored just five Premier League goals all season.
But he put in a dominant display at Stamford Bridge to put Tuchel's men on track to claim all three points. First, he stepped up to convert a penalty after being brought down by Romain Saiss himself.
Three minutes later he doubled his tally for the afternoon with a first-time finish from Christian Pulisic's pass. But Chelsea fell apart in the final 11 minutes to throw away the win that Lukaku thought he had given them.
Francisco Trincao pulled one back with a spectacular effort from outside the box before Conor Coady headed in an equaliser in the seventh minute of injury time. It left Chelsea shellshocked, with the Blues now only six points ahead of fifth-plaed Tottenham having played a game more.
HAVE YOUR SAY! Who was man of the match as Chelsea were held to a draw by Wolves? Comment below.
But despite Lukaku's starring display, Tuchel refused to shower the Belgian with the praise his performance arguably deserved. Instead, the German refused to highlight individuals, with his frustration at the dropped points clear to see.
"Good performance but for sure not the moment to talk about individual performances. We lost points," Tuchel said when asked about Lukaku's performance. "I thought we started both halves well with an offensive 5-3-2. We knew about the risks and we need to be disciplined.
"We showed discipline over most moments of the first half. In situations we touch too much risk. That costed us some dangerous moments at the end of the first half. We were unlucky not to score."
Tuchel was left frustrated with the way his side continued to take risks despite having a two goal advantage. And he admitted that it was those risks that led to Wolves dragging themselves back into the game.
"We were 2-0 up and again we took too much risk. We invited the counter-attacks and big chances. Once you do this you lose confidence and invite the opponent to smell something is possible when it is unnecessary," he said.
"It's not about dropping too much, it's about where we were losing the ball and the opponent taking a crazy approach. Big chances that we don't create, the pass is missing, the dribbling is wrong.
"At some point we played like we were 2-0 down not 2-0 up. We tried to change the structure, I don't know if that was the right decision from me, I need to watch it [the game] back."
