Chelsea's strikers were without a goal so far in the season, and they were also without an assist. That changed when some excellent forward play from Demba Ba allowed the Senegalese striker to play in Oscar, who met the ball with a laser-guided finish with the outside of his boot from the edge of the area.
Norwich City vs. Chelsea: Final score 1-3, Blues scrape fortunate away win
Norwich fought back to equalise against Chelsea and were close to stealing a win, before two late Chelsea counter-attacks earned José Mourinho’s side a valuable away victory.
Norwich were already annoyed by the perceived flow of decisions from the officials appearing to go against them, which came to a head when they seemed to be denied a penalty after a backtracking Ramires brought down Anthony Pilkington in the area.
Norwich's efforts were to prove successful shortly afterwards, following an excellent turn and pass from Robert Snodgrass to release Pilkington down the left wing, who found Ricky van Wolfswinkel in the area to head the ball back on for the Irish winger, who bundled the ball past Petr Cech from close range to level the scores.
Even after the goal, Norwich continued to enjoy the upper hand, and Pilkington was close to picking out van Wolfswinkel after the hosts found more space down the flanks, although the intervention of Terry prevented the opportunity.
Eden Hazard was introduced as Chelsea moved to an unconventional 3-6-1, and before too long he had a wonderful chance to retake the lead. Branislav Ivanovic somehow found himself in the left channel, cutting inside and sending in a powerful strike which John Ruddy could only barely keep out, and in the same passage of play, a deflected cross fell kindly for Hazard, dead-center of goal, just 12 yards out and unmarked, but his turning volley failed to connect and he could only scuff it wide.
The game was increasingly end-to-end, and it was Norwich who were enjoying the better chances. Nathan Redmond in particular was enjoying the space down the flanks, but as a corner from the home side was cleared, Willian found Oscar, who launched a hopeful ball forward for Eden Hazard, only for Alexander Tettey to slip and let the Belgian send in a right-footed shot which Ruddy got a hand to but could only watch as it trickled over the line.
Norwich had no time to mount an offensive to restore parity, however, as immediately after the goal, Willian latched onto a loose ball outside the area to curl a superb effort into the top corner to make sure of the result.
Norwich City: John Ruddy; Russell Martin, Sebastian Bassong, Michael Turner, Martin Olsson; Jonny Howson, Alexander Tettey, Leroy Fer; Anthony Pilkington, Robert Snodgrass (Nathan Redmond - 81'), Ricky van Wolfswinkel (Gary Hooper - 73').
Chelsea: Petr Cech; Branislav Ivanovic, David Luiz, John Terry, Ashley Cole (Eden Hazard - '75); Ramires, Frank Lampard; Oscar, Juan Mata (William - 81'), Andre Schurrle; Demba Ba (Samuel Eto'o - 73').
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