Preview
Club football returns this weekend with Chelsea taking on Norwich City at Stamford Bridge. A game which will also see Jose Mourinho return to the dug out after his stadium ban vs Stoke.
Chelsea lie 16th in the Premier League with Norwich 1 place higher in 15th. Saturday’s match is a must win for The Blues against an opposition who we should be beating despite our awful form this season.
Our last match before the international break was a 1-0 defeat away to Stoke City. Chelsea were the better side and dominated the game for large parts but ultimately Stoke took their chance whereas Chelsea didn’t. That performance was certainly one Chelsea fans can take confidence from going into this weekends match considering our start to the season.
This weekends Premier League fixtures are the first since the awful Paris attacks last Friday. The Premier League will pay their respects to all those affected by the tragedy by playing the French national anthem, La Marseillaise before kick off. Chelsea are looking to take it one step further by including the French flag on the cover of the match programme as a mark of respect. All players will wear a black armband with the French flag on and in the Matthew Harding Stand a flag will be passed over the fans.
Match details
Saturday, 21st November, kick off at 3:00pm at Stamford Bridge.
Recent form and previous meetings
Chelsea will be looking to put a halt to their abysmal form after winning 1 and losing 4 of their last 5 games in all competitions. The only win coming in the Champions League against Dynamo Kyiv and the four losses coming against West Ham, Stoke x2 and Liverpool.
Norwich head in to the game with the exact same record having beaten Swansea but losing to Newcastle, West Brom, Everton and Man City.
Chelsea are unbeaten against Norwich in our last 10 meetings having won 8 and drawn 2.
At Stamford Bridge vs The Canaries in our their last 1o visits our record hasn’t been as good, we have won 6, drawn 1 and lost 3.
Team News
Chelsea had some good news in the regard of Thibaut Courtois as the club confirmed he was back in first team training with the players today, although he won’t return to match action until December. Branislav Ivanovic is also expected to be back in the starting 11 after recovering from a hamstring injury he picked up in the last international break. The Serbian completed 90 minutes for his national side vs Czech Republic last Friday. Kurt Zouma had to withdraw from the French U21s squad due to an injury he picked up. The extent of the injury hasn’t been confirmed yet.
Matt Jarvis has a knee and won’t return to match action until December whereas Norwich’s only other injury concern is in the form of a hip/thigh injury for Nathan Redmond. He will undergo a late fitness test and may feature in the match.
My prediction
I’m not expecting Chelsea’s form to instantly return however I reckon we will scrape a win. Norwich haven’t been much better than us this season and in front of our own fans we should definitely be winning.
My prediction: Chelsea 2-1 Norwich.
Come on Chelsea!
