JADON SANCHO’S STUNNING late goal capped a second-half fightback as Chelsea recovered from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Ipswich at Stamford Bridge.

Enzo Maresca was facing surely the worst defeat of his tenure when Julio Enciso’s tap-in and Ben Johnson’s header put struggling Ipswich in sight of a famous win that would have kept alive their faint hopes of avoiding relegation from the Premier League.

Chelsea hit back and reduced the arrears in the first minute after half-time, Marc Cucurella’s presence at the near post forcing an own goal from Axel Tuanzebe, before Sancho sent relief around the ground by curling in his first goal since December.

The Blues will still see the result as two points dropped in the race for Champions League qualification, however.

Nicolas Jackson struck a post in the eighth minute after being set up by Enzo Fernandez’s cut-back, then Noni Madueke brought a near-post save from Alex Palmer following Pedro Neto’s neat, deep cross.

Ipswich’s goalkeeper was alert to fling himself and get two hands on Levi Colwill’s close-range header as Chelsea piled on huge early pressure and the visitors struggled to draw breath.

And so it was from nowhere that Ipswich went in front.

Enciso had scored a stunning 30-yard effort on this ground for Brighton in April 2023 and, though this was a less spectacular finish, it lacked none of the impact.

George Hirst carried the ball forward and moved it wide for Johnson, whose low cross from the right was highly inviting, leaving Enciso simply to put out a foot and guide it past Robert Sanchez.

There was then the highly unusual sight of Sanchez shooing his defenders upfield at a goal-kick, bypassing Maresca’s preferred build-up play.

Sanchez hoofed it long and the ball came straight back at Chelsea, Jack Clarke driving on and finding Enciso, who crossed to the far post where Johnson was waiting to nod home.

The flag immediately went up against Enciso, but the new semi-automated offside system intervened and Ipswich were two up.

The boos that greeted Chelsea as they left the pitch at half-time were the biggest noise the home fans had mustered to that point, yet it was eclipsed 18 seconds into the second half when their team began their fightback.

Straight from kick-off Fernandez moved the ball wide on the right to Madueke, who ran it to the byline and pulled back for Cucurella arriving at the near post to shovel it against Tuanzebe and in.

Hirst then came within whisker of restoring the two-goal lead with a brilliant, swinging drive that flashed inches wide before moments later failing to make proper contact with a header when unmarked six yards out.

Sancho levelled 12 minutes from time to rescue Chelsea and his effort could not have landed much more perfectly in the top corner.

Trevoh Chalobah ought to have won it with a late header that he powered down into the ground and over the bar. Cole Palmer was then denied by a full-stretch save from his namesake in the Ipswich goal in stoppage time.

Elsewhere, Wolves edged closer to Premier League safety after beating Tottenham 4-2 to record four successive top-flight victories for the first time since January 1972.

Wolverhampton Wanderers' Matheus Cunha (left) celebrates scoring their side's fourth goal. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Rayan Ait-Nouri gave Wolves a flying start at Molineux with his first goal since October and Tottenham’s miserable domestic season was rather summed up when Djed Spence turned into his own goal to leave Ange Postecoglou’s men staring down the barrel at half-time.

Mathys Tel got Spurs back in it just before the hour but in-form Jorgen Strand Larsen soon restored Wolves’ advantage when he made Cristian Romero pay for his mistake with a fifth goal in four games.

Richarlison threatened to set up a grandstand finish when he marked his first appearance since February by making it 3-2 in the 85th minute, but a minute later Matheus Cunha – back after a four-match ban – struck for Wolves to take his tally for the season to 14 and wrap up with win.

Victory lifts Wolves 14 points clear of the relegation zone and to within two points of 15th-placed Spurs, whose defeat was their 17th in the league this season.

Tottenham, who face Eintracht Frankfurt in the second leg of their Europa League quarter-final on Thursday as they look to keep their trophy hopes alive, could hardly have had a worse start at Molineux with the hosts taking the lead inside 85 seconds.

Jean-Ricner Bellegarde’s set-piece delivery was punched out to Ait-Nouri who hit a first-time effort into the ground and past the despairing dive of Guglielmo Vicario, with the goal finally confirmed after a lengthy VAR check.

Wolves should have doubled their advantage almost immediately when Nelson Semedo pounced on a loose pass from Vicario before feeding Larsen, but the Norwegian somehow scuffed wide of the target.

Spurs began to show the threat they also possess with Yves Bissouma rifling in an effort that Jose Sa was alert to beat away as he was called into action for the first time.

The visitors had reacted well to going a goal down and were edging closer to an equaliser, Romero fizzing a pass into Brennan Johnson who fired his snapshot just over the crossbar.

However, for all of Tottenham’s possession, Wolves doubled their lead seven minutes before the break in rather fortunate fashion.

Marshall Munetsi was able to get under a high ball inside the Tottenham box and flash in a free header which needed to be saved by Vicario but the ball bounced off Spence and rolled in.

Spurs halved the deficit in the 59th minute when Semedo completely missed Johnson’s ball across the six-yard box and Tel was ready and waiting to pick up the pieces for his third goal since joining the club earlier this year.

But it only took Vitor Pereira’s hosts five minutes to restore their two-goal advantage when Ait-Nouri forced Romero into giving the ball away and this time turned creator to Strand Larsen who tapped home from close range.

Spurs hit back again when Richarlison nodded in from close range but, once again, Wolves quickly responded.

Cunha, a second-half substitute on his return to action, dispossessed Lucas Bergvall in the middle of the park and expertly tucked his finish into the bottom corner before immediately saluting the Wolves supporters.