Chelsea’s business planning and personnel policies may confound anyone but their blue-sky thinkers, but that doesn’t stop them from providing great entertainment. Perhaps therein lies the method in the perceived madness: if you can’t be good all the time, be fun, be box office. And this was a memorable day for the laptop gurus who assembled their team.

Amid that pool of 191 years’ worth of contracts across 42 players, there is an abundance of genuine, top-notch talent. Cole Palmer, with a goal and three assists, looked like last season’s player in a game that Chelsea looked set to slip away in the first half. In the second half, their attackers tore Wolves to shreds, visibly enjoying themselves as they feasted on an opponent who looked far less than they had last season.

Noni Madueke was booed from his first kick for his late-night Instagram travel guide to Wolverhampton – “Everything about this place is shit” – and responded with a 14-minute hat-trick, each scored by Palmer, the playmaker in chief. Celebrating his third, Madueke praised Palmer as the source of his retention of the match ball. For this week, while the transfer window will soon shift the focus, Chelsea could be celebrating being a living, breathing football team rather than the trading platform they’re derided as, their new manager delighted with his team’s play.

His team selection fitted in reasonably well with the policies of Chelsea’s BlueCo ownership. While Raheem Sterling pursued his individual training plan away from the first-team, winger Mykhailo Mudryk began with far less consistency. Another project player, Romeo Lavia, was absent with a hamstring injury, after muscle problems had blighted him last season.

The concurrent Nicolas Jackson project – creating a marketable player from the rawest material – continues and, if every Chelsea player has a price, his will be raised by his early goal, headed in from Palmer’s corner and an unintentional tap-in from Matheus Cunha. The striker would also play a key role in Palmer’s goal.

Pedro Neto, Wolves’ star player when fit last season, was on Chelsea’s bench until half-time. Will Gary O’Neil come to regret selling Neto and Maximilian Kilman, his former defensive leader? The signs of a second-half collapse were unpromising. Both were necessary sales as Wolves look to stay on the winning and sustainable track. There was plenty of attacking quality in the first half, but nothing like a watertight defence. They had started their first home game of the season with a flourish. Yerson Mosquera, the Colombian who replaced Kilman and was making his home debut, sent a very sinking header wide.

That was the start of an intense period of pressure from Wolves, with Cunha’s head down and his forwards running. The Brazilian looked to have completed an end-to-end move when he turned in Jørgen Strand Larsen’s pass, but it was flagged offside. VAR, the great Satan of Molineux, showed the decision was correct. With Palmer saving a shot, Madueke forcing José Sá into a save and Wolves winger Jean-Ricner Bellegarde stumbling to reach a cross, Mudryk making a striking solo slalom through the middle, the action looked relentless, with neither midfielder offering any protection. When the opposition come at them, Enzo Fernández and Moisés Caicedo still look like the odd pair out in midfield. For Wolves, Mario Lemina was excellent at making forward runs and passing from the base, but also struggled to stop opposition attacks.

An example of that first-half pandemonium came in Wolves’ first goal, with Rayan Aït-Nouri skating through Chelsea’s underbelly after Caicedo had lost the ball to set up Cunha’s equaliser. No flag this time, although referee Rob Jones had to intervene when Jackson and Nunes clashed as the restart began.

Wolves and O’Neil smelled blood and looked for a quick second. And yet Chelsea regained the lead, their goal-line one tinged with class. Robert Sánchez, the keeper, fed the ball to Jackson and his flick was lobbed over a desperate Sá by Palmer, Chelsea’s star man finishing – and celebrating – with his usual iciness. Could they protect that lead? Aït-Nouri’s free-kick, Bellegarde’s flick and Strand Larsen’s volley provided the answer and a home debut. All level at half-time after more than 45 minutes of chaos.

Chelsea continued to press on attack in the second half, but Wolves were unable to mount a comeback. Neto’s half-time finish was warmly applauded by most Wolves fans, although there were occasional boos when he touched the ball.

It was on the other wing where the damage was done. Three times Palmer played in Madueke to slice a shot past Sá, unlucky with a deflection for the first, and bad for the second, left unprotected for the third.

Madueke made sure to enjoy his celebration in front of the Chelsea fans, and Aït-Nouri, exposed by each of those strikes, was quickly substituted. The insult was compounded when Lemina volleyed home only to be disallowed by VAR, the practice the Wolves hierarchy wanted to ban. Further sting came when Neto provided his first Chelsea assist. Jõao Félix, whose return to west London remains a mystery, fired home the final goal of a rout that few saw coming but many will have relished.