Chelsea squanders chance to play FA Cup third round replay

Chelsea were not complacent in their FA Cup third round match against Norwich, as evidenced by Antonio Conte's use of many key players in the starting lineup, such as Gary Cahill, Antonio Rudiger, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Willian and Pedro. However, the absence of key players such as N'Golo Kante and Eden Hazard caused the away team's attack to lack cohesion.

The reigning Premier League champions had more than 60% possession and attempted nearly twice as many shots as the Canaries, but were unable to find a single one. Alvaro Morata was brought on in the second half, but Chelsea's main striker only had 15 minutes to show his talent and failed to threaten Norwich once.

Norwich used a 3-4-3 formation similar to Arsenal's three days ago to face Chelsea. Although they were at a disadvantage in terms of ball possession, the most important thing for the home team was safety in front of goal and guaranteed attacks on the wings. In the first 45 minutes of the match, Norwich were the ones with more finishing situations.Gary Cahill's slow pace was constantly exploited and Willy Caballero had to hold his breath on several occasions for the lower-ranked team.

In the second half, Conte adjusted Willian to play completely on the right wing, instead of playing as an attacking midfielder behind the striker like in the first half. The Brazilian midfielder's ability to dribble and break through made it difficult for Norwich, but Michy Batshuayi was not quick in choosing a position. The most worth-watching situation was Willian's break through and finish into the near corner in the 56th minute, but was blocked right on the goal line.

Norwich played subdued but had the most significant chance of the match. In the 69th minute, starting from a cross from the right wing, goalkeeper Caballero rushed out to punch the ball but made a mistake and let the ball fall right at Josh Murphy's feet. Norwich's number 11 took a first-touch shot but missed the target, otherwise Chelsea's net might have shaken because the home striker was very close to the goal.

Morata was brought on as a stopgap solution with only 15 minutes left, but the Spanish striker could not bring any freshness, because Chelsea's problem was in creating, not scoring.

The London club's lacklustre draw ended with Davide Zappacosta's long-range strike in the third minute of stoppage time. The Chelsea new boy picked up the rebound and fired a powerful shot from nearly 30 metres, sending the ball over the crossbar.

At the end of the match, Conte shook his head in disappointment on the sidelines.They will most likely have to play again in mid-January 2018 and waste a full week off from January 13 to 20. The Stamford Bridge team will continue to work hard at a rate of one match every three days, similar to the period from Christmas to New Year, until the end of January because they still have two League Cup semi-final matches with Arsenal on January 10 and 24.

Thang Nguyen