Norwich City vs Chelsea
The London boys are heading to Norfolk on Saturday, and while Norwich is one of the prettiest and friendliest cities in football, Chelsea isn’t going for a weekend break!
It was always going to be a challenging season for the Stamford Bridge club — but two games in and Frank Lampard’s team is yet to win — and another dud in Norwich will see them stay in the wrong half of the Premier League.
Of course these are very early days, but both Liverpool and Arsenal have five points more than Chelsea, and that doesn’t make good reading in West London.
They travel to meet a team with a spring in its step, with Daniel Farke’s Norwich having just beaten Newcastle. And while the pre-season Premier League 2019 betting odds installed the Canaries as relegation candidates, they have enough about them to worry Chelsea.
Talking Points
Blues better than results
Frank Lampard has had a difficult start as Chelsea manager, losing 4-0 to Manchester United, falling to Liverpool in the Super Cup on penalties, and drawing his first home game against Leicester City.
But that doesn’t tell the whole story.
The Blues dominated for long periods against Manchester United and could easily have been two up at half time. And they started very brightly against the Foxes, Mason Mount firing then ahead. But Lampard’s team faded in both matches and, after two games, sit below Norwich on a single point.
The departure of Eden Hazard has left the Blues light up front, with neither Olivier Giroud nor Tammy Abraham really impressing so far. Lampard has Belgian striker Michy Batshuayi up his sleeve and he could make a start at Carrow Road.
But Chelsea needs goals from elsewhere and both Ross Barkley and summer signing Christian Pulisic should be aiming for 15 or so this season. Barkley too will hope to start against the Premier League newcomers.
Canaries learning how to fly
No one understands more than Norwich the difference between the Premier League and the Championship, having spent the last decade or so flitting between the two top divisions.
Daniel Farke’s team took the second tier by storm, with an attacking brand of football to take the breath away, overlapping wing-backs showing blistering pace, and a little known striker plundering goals for fun.
Very few outside East Anglia had heard of Teemu Pukki last Christmas, though we’d covered the Finn’s international exploits here at SBOBET. The free transfer turned out to be the most lethal finisher in the Championship, scoring 30 goals and getting his fair share of assists.
And if anyone wondered if he could make the step up, they should ask Newcastle United goalkeeper Martin Dubravka after he picked the ball put of the net three times on Saturday when Pukki had him beaten. The first of the flying Finn’s hat-trick was a beauty, as he smashed a first-time volley home.
Added to an opening day consolation against Liverpool that hat-trick has pushed Pukki joint first in the top scorers league with Raheem Sterling on four.
If Farke is to guide his team to safety, a 15 to 20-goal striker will go a long way to achieving that goal, but he also needs his defence to learn how to keep out some of the best strikers in the world. Young defenders Jamal Lewis, Max Aarons and Ben Godfrey all looked comfortable against the Magpies, but were destroyed in 45 minutes by Liverpool.
If those two outcomes are replicated throughout the season the Canaries will be just fine.
History
No club has suffered more Premier League relegations than Norwich City and an opening day mauling at the hands of Liverpool must have had the Canaries fearing the worst. But they responded well against Newcastle and won an invaluable three points.
Chelsea has won 11 of the head to heads in the Premier League era, drawing four and the Canaries have won two.
Norwich’s last home win over Chelsea came in 1994, and the Blues since then have won four and drawn three.
While Norwich and Chelsea will be looking at opposite ends of the league table for the other Premier League 2019 results at the weekend, they are likely to be close to each other when Monday arrives unless, of course, the home side wins!
Betting Tip
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Norwich City vs Chelsea | Total Goals 2-3 @ 2.01 |
| August 24, 19:30 (GMT+8) |
Farke won’t see this match as a free hit. His next three fixtures are West Ham away, Manchester City at home and Burnley away – and anything fewer than two points from this group of games will see the Canaries drifting towards the bottom three.
A home match against Sheffield United awaits the Blues but they really won’t want to enter that game still looking for a win. At 1.87 to win, with Norwich at 4.00 the draw at 3.50, Lampard should get off the mark, and I think it could be the odd goal in three.
A SHORT EXPLANATION ON HOW OUR ( ) BETS ARE WORTH: |
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 = €20 (Highly confident) |
= €10 (CONFIDENT) |
= €5 (SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT) |
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Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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