Two games into the season and Lampard is still without his first win as the Chelsea boss. A 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Manchester United in the opening week despite playing well and a draw against Leicester City last week leaves Chelsea in 15th place on the table with just a point. Although Chelsea have looked good on the ball, they have looked shaky at back, conceding five goals in two matches is testament to that.
The return of Antonio Rudiger will definitely improve things at the back but manager Frank Lampard ruled him out of today’s game. He however confirmed, the German International is likely to return next week. Another worrying sign for Chelsea is Ngolo Kante suffering yet another injury with an ankle sprain keeping him out of today’s game.
Fresh off their victory against Newcastle, Norwich City will be hoping to cause an upset in today’s game. Despite their bright start to life in the Premier League, the head coach, Daniel Farke has played down expectations. “Listen, we spent less than £1m this summer,” he said, “Chelsea are the Europa League winners. We remain underdogs.” They are winless in their last 10 Premier League contests against Chelsea (D2 L8) and know it is not going to be easy to come away with something from this game.
Despite criticism from pundits and some fans, Lampard still chooses to stick with his young guns, Mont and Abraham for this early fixture. Kovacic then replaces Kante in the middle of the park. They need to take the chances they create if they are to come away with the win.
Norwich remains unchanged for this fixture with hat-trick hero Teemu Pukki leading the line.
I expect goals in today’s game. If Chelsea can find their scoring boots, then this would be an easy win for them.
