Chelsea vs Norwich three lessons learnt: Blues reach seventh heaven

3. The game was won in the midfield

One of the major flaws that Norwich paid for on Saturday was the lack of intensity in the midfield. The former Championship side showed no resistance or determination in the middle of the park and they were severely punished because of that. Chelsea played with mainly two men in the midfield, Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic, and although Norwich had three players to counter-act this play, the Canaries could never do it properly. There were gaps in the midfield that kept being exploited and no one in the Norwich defence could do anything about that. The midfield was completely open for the Blues and one just had to glance at the game in progress to see the amount of free space that was being awarded to Chelsea.

Both Kovacic and Jorginho ran riot in the midfield and they even went up to the box at times. This was the amount of confidence these players had against Daniel Farke’s defeated bunch. Once they realised that no one was pushing them back or pressing them properly, they were able to start the attacks whenever they pleased. Chelsea’s passing was much faster and cleaner than Norwich and the Canaries just could not deal with it. In a situation like this, the players usually try to organize the defence and overpower the midfield with more numbers. However, Norwich just allowed the London side to have possession of the ball and left acres of spaces in front of them.

Kovacic ended up assisting two goals, the one for Hudson-Odoi and the one for Chilwell. His assist for Chilwell allowed the left wingback to score his third consecutive Premier League goal and his fourth consecutive goal overall. The former Real Madrid man was immaculate this weekend and this is the kind of performance that keeps him in the Chelsea side. He has been a real star this season and alongside Jorginho, the duo is almost unstoppable.

What lessons did you learn in the drubbing? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter!