Norwich City 1-3 Chelsea, Premier League: Post-match reaction, ratings

Chelsea had no desire to play into the narrative — be that about the team’s mentality or the events surrounding the club and the owner — coming out with pace, purpose, and intent from the off and putting Norwich City repeatedly to the sword.

Trevoh Chalobah opened the scoring inside of three minutes, heading in a corner, then Mason Mount hammered one into the top corner just ten minutes later. We could’ve had several more in an absolutely dominant first-half, and also early in the second-half, before Norwich finally arrived into the game and started getting a bit of a foothold.

And that foothold grew stronger still when Chalobah blocked a cross with his arm in the area and Teemu Pukki made no mistake from the spot. Bayed on by the suddenly vociferous home crowd, Norwich pressed for an equalizer with 20 minutes left on the clock.

Chelsea held fast however and saw out the win, Havertz adding a last-minute insurance goal as well, even.

KTBFFH

• Just a couple changes from the weekend, with Christensen giving Rüdiger a rare day off, Werner coming in for Pulisic (illness?), and Kovacic rotating in for Kanté
• Loftus-Cheek on at half-time as right wing-back for Azpilicueta, who must’ve felt his injury again; RLC deputized late on for James in the same position last game as well. RLC himself did seem to pick up a hip injury late on as well.
• Kanté and Lukaku on for the final handful of minutes for Kovacic and Werner
• Next up: Newcastle United at home on Sunday, though by then we might be playing on the Moon under ownership from the Alpha Centaurians
• KTBFFH

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