FT: Chelsea 4-1 Norwich City
Despite conceding an early goal, Chelsea cruised to an expectant 4-1 victory over Norwich City at Stamford Bridge, taking Roberto Di Matteo’s side four points clear of the chasing pack.
The Blues recovered brilliantly from a shock, when Grant Holt fired the visitors infront after only 10 minutes.
Storming back from early setback
However, the west Londoners stormed back to lead 3-1 at half-time and passed the inferior Canaries off the park in the second half, with Juan Mata pulling the strings in midfield.
The signs of a thrashing looked on the cards from minute one. Only hesitancy from Fernando Torres kept Norwich at 0-0 in the opening exchanges.
So it came as a huge surprise when it was Chris Hughton’s side who took the lead. Wes Hoolahan delivered a great ball to the far post, which Leon Barnett headed down for Holt to finish.
Chelsea responded brilliantly with three goals in 16 minutes although they were helped by some awful defending from the opponents.
Torres headed home three minutes after Holt’s opener to level the scores. The Spaniard met a Branislav Ivanovic cross to score his fifth goal of the season.
Eight minutes later, Torres turned to provider as an ambitious overhead kick was desperately blocked.
Trademark volley from Lampard
However, the ball fell to Frank Lampard who lashed a trademark volley past John Ruddy to make it 2-1.
Mata was already giving the Norwich defenders the runaround and he played a major part in the third goal.
He collected possession and was given the freedom of Stamford Bridge before playing Eden Hazard in with an exquisite pass. The Belgian made no mistake with the finish to end the game as a contest.
The visitors made more of a fight of it in the second half, although Hazard was denied a penalty when Barnett dragged him down in the box.
With a quarter of an hour remaining, Ivanovic smashed home his fourth goal of the campaign after Mata had controlled the ball in the box.
On this evidence, the Blues have to be considered as genuine title contenders but for winless Norwich, a long struggle against relegation beckons, especially with Arsenal next up for the Canaries after the international break.
By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88
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