It took just seven minutes to dismiss this as a potential banana skin for Chelsea. The crowd at Stamford Bridge were just settling in as Mason Mount opened the scoring for Thomas Tuchel’s side. From there it was one-sided dominance, as Chelsea sounded a warning shot in the Premier League title race with a comfortable 7-0 win over a dismal Norwich City side in a victory that further underlined their strength in depth.
Without the injured Romelu Lukaku, Timo Werner and Christian Pulisic, Tuchel told his makeshift forward lineup they needed to “step up” to fill the void on Saturday lunchtime after a run of Premier League games in which Chelsea looked, at times, vulnerable. Kai Havertz started as a false No. 9 with Callum Hudson-Odoi and Mount dovetailing on either side, but this was an all-court showing from Chelsea, who played with width and commanded every facet of the match.
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The only thing missing was a goal from Havertz, on the day both Hudson-Odoi and Mount got their first in the Premier League this season. Mount finished with a hat trick — his wonderful low drive from outside the box to open the scoring, a retaken penalty thanks to Tim Krul’s encroachment for a save off the first attempt and then a tap-in for his third and Chelsea’s seventh in stoppage time.
Norwich’s only moments of coherence came from their travelling support as their team were pushed and pulled all over the place by Chelsea’s inverted wingers and wing-backs. Ben Chilwell and Hudson-Odoi spun Ozan Kabak into the turf on Chelsea’s left, while Reece James and Mount’s first-half dominance was to such an extent that Norwich boss Daniel Farke made wholesale changes at the break on that side. With Chelsea already 3-0 to the good at half-time thanks to goals from Mount, Hudson-Odoi and Reece James, those substitutions failed to stem the tide, as Chilwell’s…
Source : espn
