Chelsea 4 Norwich City 0: Roman returns for a Blues cruise

The margin of defeat was rough on Norwich City, with half of the goals coming in added time from substitutes Michael Essien and Andriy Shevchenko. But there was no denying the merit of this Chelsea performance which keeps them running strongly for four trophies.

In view of upcoming battles away to Porto on Wednesday and against Arsenal in next Sunday's Carling Cup final, the Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho stuck some of his big names on the bench and left others out altogether, but it was a measure of Norwich's performance that it was two of those who came off the bench, Essien and Shevchenko, who guaranteed progress into the FA Cup quarter-finals.

In fact, Norwich should have gone in front, Lee Croft failing to bury the ball into a gaping net in the 17th minute before Shaun Wright-Phillips, revelling in the rare opportunity of a full 90 minutes, scored just before the interval and Didier Drogba added a second soon afterwards.

All this was watched impassively by Chelsea's owner, Roman Abramovich, appearing after a five-week absence which had the purveyors of rumour buzzing. Mourinho was at pains to discount them afterwards. "Roman comes and goes as he pleases. He does not have to give explanations why he is not here. This is his club and we work for him, he does not work for us."

Neither Abramovich nor his manager will have been over-impressed by the fashion in which Chelsea were made to battle until they scored. The pitch was a thorough mess, and it is being dug up yet again today in readiness for the home leg against Porto in the Champions' League. As Norwich manager Peter Grant claimed, poor pitch or not, "We were always in the game and if we had scored with 10 minutes to go we could have got another".

They should have gone in front early on. The burly Dickson Etuhu unleashed a thunderbolt from distance which struck the base of Petr Cech's right-hand upright and rebounded to the feet of Croft. The time Croft required to steady himself was fatal. His shot caught Cech heading the wrong way but Khalid Boulahrouz came across to stab it behind for a corner. What happened subsequently was tough on the Dutch defender, who dislocated his shoulder just before half-time.

This levelled up the bad-luck stakes, since Norwich had lost their goalkeeper, David Marshall, after a dozen minutes when he landed awkwardly on his left ankle, damaging ligaments, and was replaced by Paul Gallagher. The new man performed creditably, repelling an Arjen Robben left-footer and then thrusting away Frank Lampard's swerver.

He could do nothing about the goal which sent Wright-Phillips capering with delight to the sidelines for a cuddle with assorted Chelsea coaches. Lampard, charging forward yet again, saw another rocket blocked, and when the rebound came the way of Wright-Phillips, the shot, delivered with the outside of his foot, was imparted added swerve off the body of Andy Hughes.

A trademark Robben tumble in the penalty box, bringing a squalid end to a fine run, was rightly given the thumbs down by referee Rob Styles, but Chelsea did not have long to wait for their second.

Six minutes into the second half, the 37-year-old Dion Dublin was guilty of poor judgement. First, he almost turned a shot into his own net, conceding a corner. Then Dublin was nowhere near Drogba when the ball arrived at his feet almost on the line. Chelsea's top scorer can be relied on not to mess about from that distance.

Job done, Drogba then went off, to be replaced, not by Abramovich's mate, Shevchenko, but Salomon Kalou. Eyebrows were not raised for long, however, with the Ukrainian coming on for Lampard. But it was Norwich who cheered their massed fans behind the goal by assaulting it, forcing Cech into a couple of excellent stops.

Then, with the seconds ticking away in added time, Essien tapped in a low cross by Shevchenko, who then headed a fourth seconds later. Rough luck, Norwich.