Wolves boss Mick McCarthy admitted his side had been outclassed by a rampant Chelsea side at Stamford Bridge.

Wolves were three goals behind after only 22 minutes and the final 4-0 scoreline could have been even more embarrassing for the visitors if Blues boss Carlo Ancelotti had not taken off some of his star players in the second half.

The drubbing leaves Wolves in the bottom three and McCarthy accepts his team faces a long winter as they try to avoid making an immediate return to the Championship.

He joked at the end of the game:"We were happy to get nil at the end.

"I thought we had some good chances, including the best chance at the start of the game. But we made mistakes.

"Malouda's was a wonderful strike and we should have done better when they scored from the corner for the second.

"At 2-0 down it was a done deal then. But I saw enough about the players, the endeavour, work-rate and spirit, and this won't knock the spirit out of us. We were not expected to get anything here.

"I really hoped we would get something out of the game but reality was that we were expected to be in the bottom three still. We are in a relegation fight now, I've said that to the lads. We might as well understand that now. No bones about it.

"We won't be judged on today's game. I don't doubt our team spirit and fight they have in them. I reckon we had five good chances in the first half, but they had eight chances and were 3-0 up.

"Chelsea are as good as anything I've seen although Manchester United and Arsenal will argue about it."

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