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They were whistling for the final whistle at the end, and when it came the giant roar of relief betrayed the anxiety infecting Stamford Bridge, but this was a far more comfortable victory for Chelsea than the scoreline suggests. The team are still not playing like defending champions, but they appear on the way to recovery.
Most significant of all Eden Hazard looks to be rejuvenated, the reigning Footballer of the Year delivering a bewitching performance of the type that lit up last season but has been rare this. If that pleased Jose Mourinho, he was relieved it was Diego Costa who scored Chelsea’s goal just after the hour. The striker’s muted celebration underlined just what a miserable afternoon he had been enduring before a lapse in concentration by the Norwich defence offered him the opportunity.
“We deserved to be two, three, four goals up and relaxed at the end,” said Mourinho, “but once more the relation between how we play and the goals we score is not good.”
Mourinho, who punched the air at the final whistle in what he confessed was relief, added of Costa: “He missed chances so it is a big goal, important for him and for us. If I had to choose someone to score the winning goal it would be him. When you lose confidence you lose fluency, so he can do better, but one goal is important. Eden created great chances. It is important also for his confidence. He is a player who is not performing especially well, and a top player who is not playing well feels it more than other players.”
Chelsea have a practice of inviting former players on to the pitch at half-time. Yesterday’s guest was Colin Pates during whose decade at the club Chelsea were relegated twice, nearly went bust, lost possession of Stamford Bridge and flirted with slipping into the third tier. It was a reminder of how much worse a Chelsea crisis used to be.
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Modern football, though, is mainly about the here and now. Three successive League defeats, and a position two places off the relegation zone, would create a febrile atmosphere at any top club, never mind one as unstable as Chelsea.
But while results have remained poor, there have been signs of improved performances, and Chelsea began with a degree of confidence. Hazard, nominally central but often drifting into good positions on the left, was the fulcrum of most of their moves. In the opening 12 minutes he set up Costa, who shot wide under pressure, and Willian, who drew a good save from John Ruddy. In between, John Terry went close with a near-post flick.Mourinho gave Kenedy, an attack-minded player, his first Premier League start at left-back. On the other flank Branislav Ivanovic returned and initially looked rusty. He and Kenedy would thus have been happy to see the quick-footed Nathan Redmond deployed centrally.
There he was largely starved of service but he did trouble Terry after 20 minutes before finding Dieumerci Mbokani who traded passes with Robbie Brady before shooting over.
Playing two up front was bold by Norwich but left them light in midfield and Chelsea continued to fashion the better chances. However, they tended to fall to Costa, who put an inviting cross from Pedro over the bar despite choosing to side-foot his shot for greater accuracy, then chose to hit the deck in a vain penalty appeal rather than shoot when Willian fed him.
Norwich also had a penaty shout, a much more valid one, when Willian bundled over Brady on the edge of the area. “It was the key moment,” said City manager Alex Neil, who furiously berated the fourth official. “If we get that and score it gives us something to hang on to and Chelsea have to open up more.”
City had one more chance to open the scoring, just before the break when Martin Olssson returned a half-cleared corner and the loose ball reached Sebastien Bassong. Terry produced a trademark block before launching a counter-attack that climaxed with Ruddy denying Costa.
When that was followed by Kurt Zouma blazing over from close in, then Hazard sending a cross begging across the six-yard box for the second time, it seemed the goal would never come. Then Hazard was fouled, Fabregas chipped a quick free-kick over the City defence and Costa finished like Jamie Vardy.
Chelsea could have spared Mourinho the nervous finish but Zouma turned a Willian free-kick against the bar then Ruddy brilliantly denied Nemanja Matic. Victory when it finally came left Chelsea 12 points off the fourth Champions League spot. “It is difficult, but not impossible,” said Mourinho.
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