Match Summary:

Another hurtle has been suffered in the last home match of the season against a mediocre opponent in the form of relegation threatened Norwich City. The small teams have become inexplicable jinx for Blues which has been witnessed yet another time. Mourinho who did not anticipate any last moment Title swings appeared to be relaxed. But the Stamford Bridge home crowds desired some goals for their delightment as to mark the last but one league match.

First Half

The Canaries who headed to the match with the aim of getting something out of it to salvage their EPL sustenance replicated Park the Bus tactics. It went onto frustrate Blues whose attacking trio of Schurrle, Willian and Salah exchanged the ball continually. The German winger scuppered a reasonable goal chance by shooting at the safe hands of John Ruddy after Ba laid it in his path. It took the 9th minute for Norwich to play three passes on the move but never looked shaky. Merely two minutes later Chelsea were exposed as desperate sliding tackles by Cahill and Terry felled Martin Olsson who was supplied the ball by Johnson. The consequent penalty calls sought by Norwich was however waved off. Cole supplied a long pass resembling his attacking team mates but Ba could not intercept well enough to score. The stagnant half of the first 45 minutes passed with Chelsea’s fruitless search for a goal as Norwich would see the ball in their own half. It was marked by Terry contriving to head the ball at Ruddy with a goal chance wasted. Another genuine chance was created by Schurrle from the left but the German’s shot after clever dribbling run past many players ricochetted off Rudy’s left post. After this 32nd minute ambition Schurrle tried a low shot after a good work this time from the left but Rudy could save it. In the 37th minute Cole was presented with an inviting shot from the middle of D-Box but fizzled it very high. For the away side Johnson picked up a ball at 20 yards from Schwarzer and curled a shot which was somehow blocked by Terry who threw his body to defend. The save spared the Stamford Bridge crowds from the shock of a Norwich lead. At the final minute of regular time Lampard delivered a free kick which Terry headed to Rudy again.

Second Half

It started with Lampard and Salah exiting to accommodate Luiz and Hazard Chelsea played with the same rigidity as in the previous half. The 48th minute could have seen the home crowds stand on their feet had Luiz not hit the bar. Hazard was instrumental by forwarding a pass to Ivanovic and the Serbian back passed to Luiz who was dismayed by the bar. Hazard injected offense to Chelsea by giving Whittaker torrid moments to deal with. In the 54th Schurrle was fouled by Tettey in the Norwich D-Box but a valid clear penalty was dismissed by referre. Three minutes later Hazard was fouled in the same region of the field but his landing on Bennet surprisingly saw the Belgian being shown a yellow card. However the match spanned the remaining half with the ball continually sticking to Blues feet with no apparent fruition scopes. The home crowd wanted to be entertained with some goals in the ultimately goalless encounter.

Match Statistic:

Chelsea Formation (4-2-3-1): Schwarzer; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Cole; Lampard, Matic; Salah, Willian, Schurrle; Ba.

Booked Ivanovic 57

Sustitutes– Hilario, Kalas, D Luiz↑ Lampard↓, Van Ginkel, Hazard↑ Salah↓, Torres↑ Matic↓, Eto’o.

Norwich Formation  (4-1-4-1): Ruddy; Martin, R Bennett, Turner, Whittaker; Tettey; Snodgrass, Johnson, Howson, Olsson; Elmander.

Booked Bennett 59, Turner 86, Olsson 89.

Substitutes– Bunn, Bassong, Van Wolfswinkel, Fer, Hooper, E Bennett, Redmond↑Elmander↓.

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