Chelsea survived a late scare in a Carabao Cup last-16 victory at Wolves, where a mutinous atmosphere against manager Vitor Pereira and the club's ownership morphed into hopes of a dream fightback.

First-half goals from Andrey Santos, Tyrique George and Estevao Willian helped the Blues into the quarter-finals, despite a chaotic second half in which Tolu Arokodare scored once and David Moller Wolfe scored twice for Wolves, with Chelsea's Jamie Gittens settling the tie.

Returning striker Liam Delap, who came on to the pitch in the 60th minute after 10 weeks out, was sent off late on for two yellow cards.

Chelsea had been 3-0 up at half-time but were forced to throw on regular starters Enzo Fernandez, Marc Cucurella, Pedro Neto and Moises Caicedo to see out the victory during a second-half wobble.

Remarkably, Chelsea had been 2-0 up after just 15 minutes, immediately sparking Wolves fans' chants of "We want Fosun out" - directed at the Chinese owners - and "You're getting sacked in the morning" - directed at Pereira, with the club bottom of the league and winless.

Errors, including a 30-yard backpass from Arokodare five minutes into the match, allowed Santos to find the corner with his shot for his first Chelsea goal.

The second, a wonderful team goal, culminated in Gittens crossing for George to finish from close range.

But the game swung on Pereira's substitutions, beginning in the 19th minute, bringing off experienced defender Matt Doherty for midfielder Rodrigo Gomes and Marshall Munetsi and Ladislav Krejci coming on in further half-time changes, after Willian lobbed goalkeeper Jose Sa just before the interval.

Support returned when Hwang Hee-chan played in Arokodare to score immediately after half-time, and Wolfe then volleyed into the corner after Yerson Mosquera's long throw-in.

It was a chaotic last 20 minutes for Chelsea, with Delap sent off, Gittens scoring a sensational volley to restore a two-goal advantage and Wolfe lobbing goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen just 60 seconds later to spark a nervy six minutes of added time.

The Blues' reward is a quarter-final trip to League One Cardiff City, the only side from outside the Premier League to reach the last eight.

It is remarkable that Wolves supporters ended that match applauding their team off.

After just 19 minutes they were hammering the ownership and manager from the stands, chanting "we're going down".

Yet at the full-time whistle, despite not finding an equaliser to take the match to penalties, the fans stayed behind to acknowledge their team's efforts.

That initial reaction of anger was understandable given supporters will still be contemplating possible relegation from the Premier League. Wolves remain bottom, winless and had lost at home to newly promoted Burnley on Sunday after a dismal first nine league games.

Pereira's future is currently being questioned but this spirited fightback, from a team to which he made 11 changes, may have given everyone associated with the club pause for thought.

There can be questions about the lack of quality but not the fighting spirit from the manager or players.

Pereira said: "This is maybe one of the best groups of players in my career, with spirit and character, to try to change the situation. When you change 11 players from the last game, you take the risk.

"This was my responsibility because I decided to do it. I wanted to give opportunities to players that deserved the opportunity. It is very difficult for a team to come back from losing 3-0 to show what they did in the second half.

"We showed the supporters we can do it again. We just need a win to believe and move on. We won the second half 3-1 but it was a pity they got that goal.

"I don't have any doubts that we can do it [stay up] and turn around the situation by the end of the season."

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca changed his tune after the match.

He had defended his players during this recent run of red cards but Delap's sending off was the final straw.

Delap pushed Mosquera and then barged into Emmanuel Agbadou to earn two bookings and was sent off just 26 minutes after coming on.

The Italian described the bookings as "stupid" and "embarrassing", which is the sixth red card in the past nine games for Chelsea, albeit including a dismissal for Maresca himself for celebrating a last-minute winner against Liverpool.

That was a message to the entire squad, not just Delap, with Maresca explaining that he accepts some red cards are not avoidable.

Delap will now miss the upcoming trip to Tottenham on Saturday, amid ongoing fitness concerns for alternative option Joao Pedro, who is being managed.

This was amid more widespread anger from the manager at the near-collapse in the second half.

Chelsea visit fierce rivals Tottenham on Saturday before a trip to face Azerbaijani side Qarabag in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Wolves travel to Fulham before returning to west London to face the Blues again in 10 days.