The games just keep on coming for Chelsea and this Wednesday they face Norwich City in their FA Cup third round replay after a goalless draw in the original tie at Carrow Road. With the Blues yet to register a win in 2018 and three goalless draws in a row, this game is the perfect opportunity to end this dry run of form.
Team News
Antonio Conte will be without both Gary Cahill and Cesc Fabregas through injury as well as Ross Barkley who wasn’t registered in time for the game. Chelsea have had a midweek game every week for the since mid-November so tiredness may lead to a fair few changes being made to the side.
Norwich will be without midfielder Tom Trybull for the trip to Stamford Bridge through injury and Alex Pritchard, who featured in the original tie, has since left for Huddersfield.
Probable Chelsea XI: Caballero; Azpilicueta, Luiz, Ampadu; Zappacosta, Drinkwater, Kante, Kenedy; Willian, Pedro, Batshuayi
Probable Norwich XI: Gunn; Pinto, Hanley, Zimmermann, Klose, Lewis; Vrancic, Tettey; Maddison, Murphy, Oliveira
Key Battles
Michy Batshuayi struggled against the Norwich defence in the original tie and will need to impress this time if he wants to get more minutes under Antonio Conte. Pedro and Willian are going to have to get closer to him and rely on the wing-backs providing the width to the team.
With Cesc Fabregas out injured, the creativity will have to come from the likes of Danny Drinkwater and N’Golo Kante while also not letting anything get past them. These two know each other very well so we could see a more efficient attacking performance from Chelsea on Wednesday.
Josh Murphy managed to get in behind the Chelsea back three on occasion last time out so Cesar Azpilicueta and David Luiz will have to be aware of this threat and they have the pace to stop him.
Chelsea’s Record vs Norwich
The Blues have a very impressive record against the Canaries and you’ll have to go back to 1995 for the last time Norwich beat Chelsea. That was a 3-0 defeat at Carrow Road in the Premier League for Chelsea but things have changed a lot.
These two met in the FA Cup third round in 2002 when Norwich held Chelsea to a goalless draw at Carrow Road before the Blues smashed them 4-0 in the replay. Another 4-0 Chelsea win followed five years later when goals from Shaun Wright-Phillips, Didier Drogba, Michael Essien and Andriy Shevchenko saw the Blues into the quarter-finals and they went on to win it in May.
The last time these two met at Stamford Bridge was back in 2014 and that, hopefully not an omen, ended in a goalless draw. It turned out to be Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole’s last games for the club at SW6 as Jose Mourinho’s men finished third in the Premier League title race.
With unrest growing amongst the fans because of the lacklustre performances lately, Antonio Conte will have to prove some doubters wrong and pick an adventurous side while also giving some key players a much-needed rest.
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