A Blue Up North previews Chelsea’s FA Cup 3rd round replay against Norwich City.
This week’s midweek fixtures include the replays of the 3rd round of The FA Cup. And after Leicester City overcame League Two Fleetwood Town and West Ham needed extra time to finally get past League One Shrewsbury Town on Tuesday evening, Chelsea have the opportunity to make it a hat trick of Premier League sides to win their replays against lower division opposition when they host Norwich City at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday evening.
The replay comes after the sides drew 0-0 at Carrow Road in which a much changed Chelsea line up were unable to break down a well organised stubborn Norwich defence. The match was overall disappointing with last season’s beaten finalists rarely looking like scoring whilst The Canaries did not have a single attempt on target. However, with a winner guaranteed on the night, the replay should be a much more entertaining affair.
Antonio Conte will ring the changes again and has already stated that David Luiz and the impressive 17 year old Ethan Ampadu will both start in the back 3. With Gary Cahill, Cesc Fabregas and new signing Ross Barkley all unable to play, we can expect to see the likes of Willy Caballero, Danny Drinkwater, Kenedy, Davide Zappacosta, Charly Musonda, Dujon Sterling and Michy Batshuayi receiving the opportunity to be included again.
Meanwhile, the Norwich manager Daniel Farke will be forced into making at least 2 changes to his starting line up from the original tie. Alex Pritchard has moved on to Huddersfield Town whilst Tom Trybull is unavailable due to injury. Both played keys roles and Farke will struggle to replace their influence within his side. However, The Canaries are currently unbeaten in 5 matches, during which they have only conceded 2 goals.
The Blues themselves are enjoying a 10 match unbeaten run, including a run of 4 consecutive draws in 2018. Chelsea have qualified through to the 4th round for the last 19 seasons, which is the longest current run of any team.
Whoever Conte opts for in his starting line up, the importance of those players making the most of their opportunity is prevalent. In the original match, Norwich frustrated their Premier League opponents and will endeavour to do exactly that again in the replay. It will take a committed, cohesive performance from all of the players in blue to overcome them and surely this time they will prevail and host Newcastle United in the next round.
Written by Jon Ellis. Follow him on Twitter @ClitheroeBlue
