Norwich fought bravely but were unable to avoid defeat as Chelsea ran out 2-1 winners at Carrow Road.
Chelsea opened the scoring after forty seconds, the quickest goal so far this season in the Premier League. Kenedy got the goal, and Norwich were on the back foot early on again.
Costa added a second for the Blues just before half-time, however, the Spaniard was in an offside position and the goal should’ve been ruled for offside. But it wasn’t.
Norwich pushed throughout the second half and were rewarded when Nathan Redmond slotted the ball past Thibaut Courtois to give the Canaries hope. Frantic scenes ensued late on, but Norwich weren’t able to put the ball in the back of the net.
Here’re five things we picked up on from tonight’s game.
The Standard of officiating is awful
I mean, how can you describe the performance of the officials tonight without using the word ‘Hopeless’ in it? The linesmen were awful, failing to pick up on Chelsea players being offside on both sides of the pitch, and Lee Mason? Well, he’s just awful.
Sort it out FA.
Cameron Jerome had a mare. again.
It’s fair to say that Cameron Jerome didn’t have the greatest time in front of goal today. The former Stoke man missed from close range again, following on from a disappointing performance against league leaders Leicester. Surely he won’t start against Swansea?
Redmond on a good day
Redmond was surely the best player on the pitch tonight, even surpassing my favourite player Jonny Howson. His performance deserved a goal, as he again showed what he can do in a Norwich shirt.
Neil was tactically aware... Kinda
One of my major criticisms of Alex Neil this season has been his failure to adapt to the game as it goes along. Today, finally, he managed to change a gameplan that wasn’t working and counter how Chelsea were playing, leading to Redmond’s goal. It did come way too late, however, as Neil should’ve seen that three defenders weren’t working from half-time.
Saturday is massive
The game against Swansea is the World Cup Final, the Superbowl, the 100m final and every single major sporting event wrapped into one. Gulp.