IT HAD been a seismic day in the history of Chelsea, a football club in total disarray. So in the grand scheme of things, a trip to the Premier League’s bottom team was the least of their worries. Remarkably, they still managed to turn that into a drama as what looked set to be massive […]
IT HAD been a seismic day in the history of Chelsea, a football club in total disarray.
So in the grand scheme of things, a trip to the Premier League’s bottom team was the least of their worries.
Remarkably, they still managed to turn that into a drama as what looked set to be massive victory ended up as a bit of a struggle.
The contest looked over after 14 minutes following goals from Trevoh Chalobah and Mason Mount.
But weirdly, Chelsea delivered a shambolic second half performance and a penalty from Teemu Pukki set up a decent end before Kai Havertz struck in the 90th minute.
Thomas Tuchel‘s team making a meal of things was nothing unusual but this did not feel like business as usual.
It was a strange occasion. And one the travelling fans, in particular, are unlikely to forget.
They will always remember where they were when the news filtered through that Roman Abramovich’s assets in the UK were being frozen.
Chelsea’s fans sang the name of Abramovich both before, during and after the match. Of course they did.
It is both embarrassing and distasteful from Chelsea’s fans but not unexpected. They will never stop, either, in the same way Tottenham’s fans make a point of including the Y word in their songs despite repeated requests to avoid this.
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Chelsea’s shirt sponsor, Three, suspended its £40million deal and asked for its logo to be removed from the shirts although it remained for this game.
Carrow Road is not exactly a cauldron of hate for visiting teams. But there were jeers when the Blues’ line-up was announced while some home fans sang: “Chelsea are bankrupt, everywhere they go.”
Those in the away end chanted: “Chelsea get sanctioned, everywhere we go.”
Chelsea fans continued with “we’ve won it all,” and in return, Norwich supporters replied with “you’ve lost it all” along with “dirty Russian money.”
The west Londoners will have to get used to this sort of thing in the coming weeks and months.
In his pre-match media duties, skipper Cesar Azpilicueta admitted “this has not been a normal day” which was probably an understatement.
The team flew up earlier in the day, rather than stay overnight, and the squad were digesting the Abramovich situation as they headed to the airport.
But it is not as though bombshell news ahead of a game was anything new. It was before the FA Cup tie at Luton ago that Abramovich announced he was preparing to sell the club.
Of the many sanctions in place is a transfer embargo meaning Chelsea cannot buy or sell players while they are now banned from negotiating new contracts.
So if the futures of Azpilicuta, Andreas Christensen and Toni Rudiger were not already in doubt, they certainly are now.
Yet both Azpilicueta and Christensen, who could both be off to Barcelona, were still in the starting line-up while Rudiger was a substitute.
And life did not get any better for Romelu Lukaku who once again remained on the bench until the 85th minute with Timo Werner starting, although he failed to take the chance.
Norwich switched to a back three in an attempt to avoid conceding too many but they had barely managed a kick of the ball by the time Chelsea took a third minute lead.
Neither Josh Sargent or Christoph Zimmermann managed to get anywhere near Chalobah, who just a few yards from the goal, had the easiest of glancing headers to score from Mount’s corner.
Chelsea’s fans chanted to the home fans “you’re going down” and the reply came “you’re going bust.”
Tim Krul kept out an effort from Kai Havertz but there was nothing the Dutch keeper could do when Mount smashed the ball into the top corner for 2-0.
Krul delivered another devent save to keep out a shout from Mount at the start of the second half but Dean Smith’s strugglers put on a better performance having changed the system along with introducing the impressive Milot Rashica.
Norwich got a penalty after Chalobah handled a cross from Pierre Lees-Melou with the incident being flagged to referee Martin Atkinson by VAR.
Pukki sent Edouard Mendy the wrong way and Norwich threatened an equaliser before Havertz stuck a shot into the top left-hand corner in the 90th minute.
Ahead of the game, news broke that a terrified jogger spoke about being attacked by a giant, escaped owl which swooped on her ponytail near Carrow Road. She said: “It tried to eat me.”
And the highlight of the first half for the home fans was another rogue bird – although not a large owl or a canary – which flew onto the pitch and refused to leave.
When play was halted for an official to rescue the bird, it scampered away towards the centre of the pitch, where it stayed for about 15 minutes without being trod on.
The Canaries faithful, who have seen some rubbish on this pitch this season, broke into a chorus of “sign him up, sign him up.”
Gallows humour from supporters who, barring a miracle, know they will be in the Championship next season.
For Chelsea’s fans, the future is a good deal more uncertain.
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