Jose Mourinho's Chelsea haven't been as good as people had expected. It's the worst start under Roman Abramovich, but Chelsea has only lost 1 match and has 11 points from 6 matches and sits 5th in the Premier League. Mourinho has almost an innumerable amount of talent in the midfield with Willian, Mata, Hazard, Oscar, Schuerrle, Kevin De Bruyne, etc. all among the ranks. However, Chelsea's not-so-good start to the season saw a delightful and solid 4-0 victory in a Champions League match away to Steaua Bucharest. Jose will hope to emulate that performance on Tuesday against Norwich City, who haven't beaten Chelsea at home since 1994. Mourinho's men have yet to concede a goal in the second half and are the only team in the Premier League yet to do so. Chelsea haven't found the goals they've wanted in the league and have only scored five goals this season. The attacking football that Roman Abramovich craves hasn't set fully into motion, but after the midweek victory, it looks to be coming into shape.
After last week's feisty derby against Tottenham, Mourinho will look to Samuel Eto'o (presumably) to lead the line as Fernando Torres is suspended for the match and out for 2-3 weeks with a knee ligament injury. Jose will be without Marco van Ginkel, who is out for 6 months with a torn ACL. Eden Hazard is doubtful for the match after he missed the midweek encounter v Steaua, but he did return to practice Friday morning. Tomas Kalas will not participate in the match after picking up a leg injury that has him sidelined for a few weeks at least. The criticism around Juan Mata ended after the Spaniard returned to the starting XI in a good performance, but it was Kevin De Bruyne who had the reporters talking. He wasn't selected for the match in Romania which led to Jose Mourinho storming out of the press conference after he felt the media were asking questions on who doesn't play instead of who does.
Norwich manager Chris Hughton will look to fend off the pressure once again after doing so successfully last week with a narrow 1-0 victory at Stoke City. Only their second win of the season, the victory helped Norwich distance themselves from the bottom three. Norwich has had a tough time finding the back of the net this season, the Canaries have only scored four goals in the six league matches played. Norwich's newest strikers Ricky van Wolfswinkel and Gary Hooper haven't had the best of starts in Norfolk, but have each found the back of the net at least once this season. Norwich has been very hard to break down defensively, though, and they'll need to continue their solid defensive displays against a Chelsea side with many attacking options. RvW had an injury concern after missing a few practices in midweek (toe), but he's expected to be fit and ready for Sunday's match. Sebastien Bassong has been suffering from a hamstring injury and Hughton will hope to have him back for the match, Nathan Redmond and Javier Garrido returned to training this week and are both fit and ready to go for the match. Elliott Bennett is out of the match after sustaining a serious knee injury.
Norwich City's record against the Blues, lack of goals and creativity is a huge concern for Chris Hughton and while his defense has done pretty so far, I believe that Chelsea's incredible amount of attacking options and their recent form will prove too strong for the hosts and continue their unbeaten run at Carrow Road with a 2-0 victory.
