A spirited and well organised Norwich gained a deserved point, and their first clean sheet of the season, after denying Chelsea a game that the visitors know they should have won. The best chance of the game came to Fernando Torres in the second half, when the ball fell to his feet ten yards from goal, but the Spaniard sliced it woefully wide. The £50 million striker has now gone 17 games without a goal, his worst run since coming to the Premier League.
The draw represents a missed opportunity for Andre Villas-Boas’s side, with the other four teams in the premiership top five facing off against each other on Sunday. They now stand ten points behind leaders Manchester City, and with inconsistent displays like this, they will find it hard to keep their place in the top four. Further problems came for Chelsea as their joint top goal scorer, Frank Lampard, had to be replaced by Florent Malouda in the first half after picking up, what appeared to be, a knee injury.
The home team came into the fixture with an ominous statistic hanging over their head; they had the same amount of points that Blackpool did this time last season. However, based on the performance during the game, it is unlikely they will be facing the drop at the end of the season.
The first half was an evenly matched affair with both teams creating chances. Early on Norwich striker Grant Holt shot wide from outside the box after picking up a great ball from Steve Morison. At the other end of the pitch a clever, clipped shot from Torres was denied by the fingertips of John Ruddy. The Norwich keeper also made a brilliant save from Juan Mata just before the break after the striker drove into the box and shot low.
In the second half Chelsea had the lion’s share of the possession and chances but could not make the decisive breakthrough.
Credit had to go to the structure of Norwich’s defence. Zak Whitbread and Daniel Ayala put in solid performances, closing down the attacking power of Chelsea as they strived to find the ever elusive goal. Ruddy was also of excellent form, denying chances further chances from Ramires, Mata and Malouda.
The result will be seen as a well deserved point for Norwich. However it will leave further questions about the performance of Chelsea, the tactics of Andre Villas-Boas and, especially, the inconsistent form of Fernando Torres.