Chelsea breezed past Burnley in the Premier League this weekend and since they have played lesser games than some of the other sides, the Blues will have no time to rest as they play a midweek league tie.
This time, Chelsea take on Norwich City at Carrow Road and given how poor the Canaries have been performing, we expect Tuchel’s side to pick up another easy win. Norwich are sitting at the bottom of the PL table with just 17 points whereas Chelsea are sitting on the 3rd spot quite comfortably.
The London side have been able to bounce back quite well after losing the Carabao Cup final to Liverpool but they still have a lot of work to do if they wish to hold onto that third spot on the table. Arsenal are just five points behind them right now and the Gunners have played one game less than Tuchel’s side.
Chelsea still have to play some tough oppositions but we don’t think Norwich will cause any major headaches as they are winless in their previous five outings plus they haven’t even won against the Stamford Bridge outfit. This game will give Thomas Tuchel the chance to rest some regular starters and hand game time to the benchwarmers.
Chelsea team news vs Norwich City:
Several Chelsea players were doubts for the Burnley game but almost all of them came back into the matchday squad.
The likes of Thiago Silva, Chalobah and Hakim Ziyech were all selected in the squad against Burnley but it was only Thiago Silva who made it into the starting XI.
Christensen also made a comeback during the weekend and he will be pushing Trevoh Chalobah for a start in midweek but we think Tuchel will stick with the youngster as the third central defender alongside Silva and Rudiger.
Azpilicueta remains an injury doubt and we don’t expect him to be fit for the Norwich City clash.
Back to back Chelsea goal of the month awards…
Hakim Ziyech. 👏 pic.twitter.com/BFjWUaPaQT
— LDN (@LDNFootbalI) March 7, 2022
With Azpi possibly ruled out Reece James will once again have to start on the right-hand side and this could be a cause of concern since the right-back has just returned from an injury.
The manager had updated on Friday: “Azpi was not in training yesterday, so this will be a bit too close unfortunately for him.”
Marcos Alonso missed the Burnley game due to COVID so he is set to miss the Norwich City game as well. With the left-back ruled out the Chelsea boss will once again have to use Saul Niguez as the left wing-back.
Mateo Kovacic came off the bench during the weekend but we expect him to get a start against the Canaries, possibly in place of the injury-prone Kante.
Hakim Ziyech should also be coming into the starting line up replacing Mason Mount. Timo Werner though should remain on the bench as Christian Pulisic was superb on Saturday.
Romelu Lukaku watched from the bench as Kai Havertz scored a brace against Sean Dyche’s men but the Belgian forward will move up the pecking order this week, simply because the Chelsea boss will want to shake things up a bit.
UPDATE:
During the weekend, it was being claimed that Alonso was ill but on Monday, Thomas Tuchel has confirmed that the left-back has contracted COVID and his symptoms are not pleasant.
Tuchel said, as per Chelsea FC: ‘Marcos is still ill. He has quite a lot of Covid symptoms so he’s absolutely not able to do training or a game.’
Thomas Tuchel on Marcos Alonso:
“Marcos is still ill. He has quite a lot of Covid symptoms so he’s absolutely not able to do training or a game.”
[via @ChelseaFC]
— Absolute Chelsea (@AbsoluteChelsea) March 7, 2022
Chelsea predicted line up vs Norwich City:
Predicted Starting Line up(3-4-2-1): Edouard Mendy; Thiago Silva, Rudiger, Christensen/Chalobah; Jorginho, Mateo Kovacic, Saul Niguez, Reece James; Pulisic, Ziyech; Romelu Lukaku.
