Chelsea will look for a big victory when they travel to Carrow road to face Norwich City this weekend in the Barclays Premier League.
Andre Vilas-Boas’ men have kept the pressure on the top teams with successive victories in the last couple of rounds in the Premier League and the signs are looking good for the Blue half of London. The Portuguese coach at Chelsea will be gutted about the fact that his team is nearly out of contention for the title. Chelsea are eleven points behind leaders Manchester City in the league standings.
What the stats say is this – Chelsea have not defended as well as they normally do and at times, they have struggled to score goals. Vilas Boas was quick to sign England International Gary Cahill for a cut price seven million pounds from Bolton Wanderers and he can expect to be a part of the team that travels to Norwich on Saturday. I would rule out a starting eleven berth though.
Another piece of news that will be music to the ears of Chelsea fans is the fact that Michael Essien has now come back from injury and set to feature against Norwich. John Obi-Mikel is still unfit though, and it could be a while before he makes his comeback.
Speculating on Chelsea’s starting lineup is not an easy task this week with three players making comebacks to the playing eleven.
Petr Cech will start at goal while John Terry may or may not have David Luiz for company if Gary Cahill does make the cut. Branislav Ivanovic is slated to fill in at right back following his return from injury while the excellent Ashley Cole is a given at left back.
Essien should start ahead of Oriol Romeu at defensive midfield alongside Brazilian Ramires and the evergreen Frank Lampard, who has made a huge impact this season. Juan Mata and Daniel Sturridge should start on the wings with Fernando Torres leading the attack.
Now that I think of it, Fernando Torres has looked exceptionally good for the Blues since that 3-1 loss at the Bridge to Aston Villa. How the Spaniard has managed not to hit the back of the net in this period is simply beyond me.
Torres, for me, has found his best form in a while and has been a livewire up front. His movement has been phenomenal, his touch outstanding and vision paramount. I back him to score at Norwich which should be the beginning of an unprecedented run of goals for a man that the world has learnt to fear.