Sunday was a fantastic day for Matheus Cunha, with the Brazilian hitting a hat-trick for Wolves against Chelsea – and he has now joined a very exclusive club as a result.
Wolves enjoyed their best result of the reason so far, beating the Blues convincingly at Stamford Bridge.
It finished 4-2, but Wolves were comfortable throughout and were no match for Mauricio Pochettino’s side, who could not live with the visitors’ work rate and creativity in and around the final third.
Wolves were superior all over the pitch, and the front three were especially good.
Pedro Neto had a field day down the right side, and Cunha was clinical when presented with his opportunities.
Players don’t often score three goals at Stamford Bridge, with Cunha now joining a very small group of stars to do so…
The exclusive group Matheus Cunha has joined after hat-trick for Wolves against Chelsea
Cunha equalised for Wolves on Sunday after Cole Palmer had put Chelsea in front, striking after a good burst forward from Joao Gomes. His shot deflected, but it was still well taken.
Cunha then grabbed his second in the second-half, sweeping home after a fantastic run from Neto.
The Brazilian completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot, sending Dorde Petrovic the wrong way. O’Neil branded him ‘unbelievably talented’ after the game.
Hat-tricks at Stamford Bridge are not a very common occurrence at all. You have to be a top player to achieve the feat, and only three players had ever scored three at Chelsea’s home before Cunha.
As reported by Squawka, Nwankwo Kanu did it in 1999 for Arsenal. Robin van Persie also hit a treble for the Gunners back in 2011 in a 5-3 win for the visitors.
Before Wolves star Cunha, the most recent player to have scored a hat-trick at Stamford Bridge was Sergio Aguero, who did it for Manchester City in 2016, with City winning 3-0.
Cunha can be unplayable at times
It’s amazing to think that only three players had scored hat-tricks at Stamford Bridge before, so Cunha is certainly in a very exclusive club now.
The man is going from strength to strength in a Wolves shirt.
Since Gary O’Neil came in, the £60,000-a-week star has just been improving week on week, and we are now starting to see him contribute pretty much on a weekly basis.
At times, he is just unplayable with his ball-carrying and dribbling. But the best thing is that he is now adding goals to his game.
It’s 11 in all competitions now, putting him level with Hwang Hee-chan. Hopefully, he can keep this rich vein of form going for as long as possible.