Chelsea will square off against Norwich City on Thursday evening looking to further strengthen their hold of third position in the Premier League standings.
While the Blues head to Carrow Road possessing a three-match winning streak in the top flight, bottom-placed Norwich have lost four games in succession.
Match preview
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Even the most optimistic of Chelsea fans will accept that they are no longer involved in the Premier League title race, the current gap to leaders Manchester City being 16 points with two matches in hand.
Nevertheless, the Blues have been required to put together a three-match winning streak to reaffirm their hold of third spot, moving six points clear of fifth-placed Manchester United having played two games fewer.
Thomas Tuchel witnessed his team post a 4-0 victory at Burnley on Saturday, recording their third successive league clean sheet in the process, with Kai Havertz making it four goals from five games in all competitions.
With a hectic schedule in front of them ahead of the upcoming international break, Tuchel may be prepared to rotate his squad on Thursday, but most of his players can claim to be match-fit given the fixtures which have recently been played in various competitions.
Chelsea ran out 7-0 victors in the reverse game back in October, Mason Mount netting a hat-trick, and the West Londoners are currently on an 18-match unbeaten streak against their upcoming opponents.
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From Norwich's perspective, welcoming the European and world champions to Carrow Road has come at the wrong time with five defeats having been registered in a row.
While the Canaries had been outsiders in the first four of those games, they were favourites to see off Brentford last weekend, only to succumb to a 3-1 defeat in front of their own supporters.
Not only has it allowed the Bees to move clear of the relegation zone, Norwich are five points adrift of safety having played at least one more game than some of their rivals.
Dean Smith is aware that the triple-header after Thursday's contest could prove pivotal with Leeds United, Brighton & Hove Albion and Burnley all coming in succession.
However, Norwich need to build confidence ahead of those fixtures, the pressure being on to deliver one of their best performances of the campaign against a team on a high, despite the ongoing situation regarding Roman Abramovich's sale of the club.
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Team News
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Despite returning to training, Chelsea Cesar Azpilicueta may not be risked for this contest, and the same could also apply to Marcos Alonso who has had coronavirus.
Tuchel may choose this fixture to take Thiago Silva out of the starting lineup, and the same could also apply to N'Golo Kante and Havertz, while Reece James has been ruled out with a muscular injury.
Andreas Christensen, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Jorginho and Romelu Lukaku may all be brought back into the team.
Smith will be unable to call upon Norwich midfielder Billy Gilmour, who is unable to face his parent club, but the Scot is unlikely to be the only player to drop out of the first XI.
Sam Byram, Ben Gibson and one of Milot Rashica or Josh Sargent may only feature among the replacements, with academy graduate Jonathan Rowe potentially being provided with his first Premier League start.
Ozan Kabak will return to the backline if he recovers from injury, but Christoph Zimmermann may get the nod if no risks are taken on the Turkey international.
Norwich City possible starting lineup:
Krul; Aarons, Hanley, Zimmermann, Williams; Lees-Melou, Rupp; Sargent, Dowell, Rowe; Pukki
Chelsea possible starting lineup:
Mendy; Chalobah, Christensen, Rudiger; Hudson-Odoi, Kovacic, Jorginho, Saul; Mount, Pulisic; Lukaku
We say: Norwich City 0-2 Chelsea
With Norwich looking to respond to the manner of the Brentford defeat, we feel that this fixture could be much closer than many anticipate. Nevertheless, the Blues should still run out convincing victors at Carrow Road, perhaps scoring a goal in either half.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Chelsea win with a probability of 75.25%. A draw had a probability of 15.8% and a win for Norwich City had a probability of 8.94%.
The most likely scoreline for a Chelsea win was 0-2 with a probability of 12.89%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-1 (10.67%) and 0-3 (10.38%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (7.52%), while for a Norwich City win it was 1-0 (3.11%). The actual scoreline of 1-3 was predicted with a 7.3% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Chelsea would win this match.
