Chelsea's super-subs save the day as Norwich take them to the wire
It can be a cruel old game at times.
Despite falling behind inside four minutes Norwich Citys defence suffering a serious case of the jitters the general consensus was that 3-1 flattered Chelsea a little.
Blues fans will probably argue otherwise, but the Canaries second-half performance was as good as weve seen all season and, bar the mother of all collective cock-ups could, possibly should, have emerged with at least a point.
As it was of course, Eden Hazard made hay from the 85th minute City gift horse and Willian sealed the deal with a world class goal in Chelseas next attack and that was pretty much that.
Butit was hard to take. Despite weeks of Chris Hughton bashingthe City boss again made all the right calls, and bar one or two dissenters the sort who would want rid of Hughton even if we did the double over Manchester United, Manchester City and Arsenal most left happy with Citys performance.
Having said that we were not for the first time contributors to their own downfall; Chelseas early goal joining its 85th minute counterpart in the little bit too soft category.
There was no denying the quality of Oscars strike, or the lay-off from Demba Ba, but the defending was unlikely to have been of Hughtons liking, with the speed and precision of movement appearing to catch one or two by surprise.
In fairness to the visitors, the City goal did lead something of a charmed life in the 20 minutes that followed, but once theyd cleared their heads and got themselves a foothold in the game Hughtons men asked one or two questions of the Chelsea defence.
Jonny Howson went close for City late in the first half, only an instinctive close-range block from Petr Cech denying him an equaliser, but buoyed by a much improved end to the half, the Yellow Armys rousing support paved the way for a rousing second-half.
That Chelseas travelling support celebrated as if theyd won the Champions League was signal enough that theyd been in a game.
And the players didnt disappoint. The equaliser, when it arrived, was little more than City deserved and owed much to the bombing on of Martin Olsson the Swede living up to his reputation as a swashbuckler extraordinaire with his deep and dangerous cross landing perfectly on the head of Ricky van Wolfswinkel.
The Dutchmans header back across the face of the goal was just asking to be nodded in and Anthony Pilkington obliged with the deftest of glancing headers.
From there it looked conceivable that City could go on and win the game until, in the 85th minute, the self-destruct button was given a firm smack.
From a City corner, Pilkington started the rot by over-hitting it and what followed was neither big nor clever; Chelseas counter-attack, however swift, being preventable by both Alex Tettey and John Ruddy.
Unfortunately, neither covered themselves in glory and the sight of £20 million substitute Eden Hazards shot trickling over the City line was agony personified.
The salt for the City wound was provided by Chelseas £30 million substitute Willian who smashed a loose ball beyond the reach of Ruddy less than a minute later.
That Chelseas travelling support celebrated as if theyd won the Champions League was signal enough that theyd been in a game, but a catalogue of errors followed by a stroke of genius had sealed Citys fate.
So: a good performance, great support but no points.
Other results dictated we ended the day in the drop zone but maintain that level of performance week in, week out, and our stay there will be a short one.
