Chelsea finished very promisingly against Southampton after dropping behind, with two late goals from Fabregas and Ivanovic. Taking the whole three points was great but the first half showed weakness in the Chelsea side, which was lacking their two first team centre backs.
Baba Rahman was replaced in the second half of the match, replaced by Kennedy after a poor showing. This was unusual with as the young Ghanaian has put on a good run of form. Kennedy came on and once again showed his high amount of talent. I am hoping that Hiddink will start Baba, this will be a huge point in his development, allowing him to gain confidence that he can afford to make mistakes. Kennedy also deserves some good game time as a reward for his strong performance.
Some view playing teams in as poor runs as Norwich right now as a guaranteed win, I have always found that they will often turn their poor performances around against big teams, such as the champions. This means that Chelsea should not believe that victory is inevitable.
Team News
Chelsea
Reports suggest that Chelsea physios deem captain John Terry (Hamstring) too unfit to play but manager Guss Hiddink may listen to the opinion of the player and start him. Pedro (Hamstring) pulled up early into the game being replaced by Oscar. Kurt Zouma (Knee) and Falcao (Knee) are both still sidelined. Pato could be making an appearance in an upcoming game with Hiddink wanting to rest Costa soon.
Norwich
Patrick Bamford is ineligible to face his parent club due to regulation. Andre Wilson (Knee) is expected to be side-lined. Sebastian Bassong (Unknown) and Wes Hoolahan (Uknown).
Predicted XI
Chelsea
Courtois, Azplicueta, Cahill, Ivanovic, Baba Rahman, Mikel, Fabregas, Oscar, Hazard, Willian, Costa
Norwich
Ruddy, Pinto, Bennett, Martin, Klose, Brady, Redmon, Tettey, Howson, Naismith, Jerome
Opponent stats
Played: 27
Won: 6
Draw: 6
Lost: 15
Goals: 30
Conceded: 51
Clean sheets: 3
Top scorer: Hoolahan, Mbokani Bezuna, Redmon – 4
Last corresponding meeting:
Head to head
Chelsea: 20
Norwich: 14
Draw: 14
Form
Chelsea: DWDDWW
Norwich: LLLLDL
Match Details
Date: 19:45 March 1st 2016
TV: Not available on UK
