Norwich 2 Chelsea 3: Tammy Abraham scores twice to hand Frank Lampard first Premier League win

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Richard Parry24 August 2019

It was a day of double delight for Chelsea as Frank Lampard oversaw his first Premier League victory, while Tammy Abraham repaid his manager’s faith by scoring his first two senior goals as they outscored Norwich City in an entertaining contest at Carrow Road.

This rollercoaster match had it first narrative twist in before Martin Atkinson had even blown his whistle to start proceedings, as Chelsea lost Pedro to a hamstring injury in the warm-up.

Pedro was replaced by Ross Barkley in a line-up which Lampard wanted to be more clinical in front of goal.Chelsea were, but they remained vulnerable at back, creating an entertaining spectacle for the fans.

Less than a minute after the Chelsea boss sat back on the bench after celebrating Tammy Abraham’s first senior goal for the club, Lampard saw Kepa beaten as Todd Cantwell slid-home Pukki’s cross to equalise with just six minutes on the clock.

Mason Mount restored the visitor’s lead with 15 minutes on the clock with his second league goal of the season, and but for a point-blank save from Tim Krul to deny Andreas Christensen, Chelsea would have been two-goals clear.

Photo: PA
PA

And that was, albeit against the run of play, when Norwich struck back.Cantwell, Emi Buendia and Pukki combined brilliantly as the Fin slotted past Kepa to score his fifth top-flight goal in three matches to put Norwich level at the break.

Chelsea’s tempo has noticeably dipped in previous weeks following the restart, but this week, their dominance of possession continued into the second half.

Starting line-ups

 

Norwich XI: Krul, Aarons, Hanley, Godfrey, Lewis, Leitner, Trybull, Cantwell, Stiepermann, Emi, Pukki.

Substitutes: Byram, Vrancic, Klose, Fahrmann, McLean, Tettey, Srbeny.

Chelsea XI: Arrizabalaga, Azpilicueta, Zouma, Christensen, Emerson, Kovacic, Jorginho, Barkley*, Mount, Pulisic, Abraham.

Substitutes: Alonso, Willian, Caballero, Giroud, Batshuayi, Tomori, (*Pedro injured in warm-up)

Christian Pulisic wasted an opportunity to restore Chelsea’s lead when he choose to shoot instead of squaring to Abraham, but it was the contentious decision not to refer to VAR minutes later that frustrated the visitors most.

Marco Stiepermann, who was somewhat fortunate to evade two bookings in the first half, appeared to catch Jorginho on the knee inside the penalty area.

But nothing was given by referee Atkinson, and there was no VAR referral.

But minutes later, Chelsea would out themselves back in front, with Abraham scoring his second to repay Lampard’s faith in abundance.

A terrific touch took it past Godfrey, before Abraham drove the ball low into the bottom-left-corner of Krul’s goal.Chelsea thought they had extended their lead minutes later when Krul spilt the ball under pressure from substitute Oliver Giroud.

The referee awarded the goal, which was bundled home but Kurt Zouma, only for VAR to advise that Krul was fouled in the build-up.It was yet another contentious moment from the newly installed technology but, fortunately for Chelsea, not one which proved costly.

24 August 2019

2 mins

Because of that forced change before kick-off, Chelsea are now fielding their youngest team in the top flight in 24 years.

24 August 2019

Kick off!

We're under way at Carrow Road! Chelsea are kicking from left to right, wearing white.

24 August 2019

Late change for Chelsea! Pedro has been injured in the warm-up so Ross Barkley starts at Carrow Road.

24 August 2019

Kick off is a little over five minutes away now...

Will Chelsea get their first competitive win under Frank Lampard?

Will Norwich win their second game on the bounce?

Or will it end in a draw...?

Stay tuned to find out!

24 August 2019

Head to head 

Chelsea have dominated this fixture in recent years, winning 11 of the last 14 meetings between the two sides. 

Norwich haven't beaten the Blues since 1994 and trail on the overall head-to-head 22-14, with 18 draws.

Their last meeting in the Premier League was back in March 2016, when Chelsea won 2-1.

24 August 2019

But what would Lampard give to have one of his forwards in the form on Teemu Pukki, you wonder?

Norwich boss Daniel Farke is certainly chuffed to have the Finish international, who has scored four goals already this season - including a hat-trick against Newcastle last time out.

Photo: Getty Images 

"It's not about individual statistics but team statistics," Farke told the BBC. "Teemu is important not only because of goals, but assists and team-work. I'm not interested if he gets the Golden Boot, it's about the team getting points."

24 August 2019

Lampard: Chelsea players need to share the responsibility of scoring goals

"I know those stats and I know how many goals Eden Hazard was part of in terms of scoring and assisting," said the Chelsea boss.

"So they are facts that are real and ones we have to try to address with work, which means can we score goals from other areas of the pitch?

"Can we be more clinical up front and then the challenge is clear for the strikers and the attacking players.

Photo: AFP 

"Can you be the players to score those goals because I agree the top teams in the league tend to have players that are scoring regularly, who do win games that are tight, who do put you clear in games in good periods, that help you score enough goals to put the game to bed.

"And that's a challenge for us because it's something we aren't doing and we need to do.

"The Eden thing, we all know the reliance in terms of his output was huge and he is in the top bracket of players in world football, attacking players in world football, so you have to accept that.

"There is enough quality in this team to win games for sure without Eden. He's not here now so it's the end of that story."

Chelsea's strikers have drawn a blank in front of goal in their two Premier League games to date, leaving Lampard hopeful of a change in luck at Norwich on Saturday.

Lampard insisted he does not want his Chelsea set-up limited to just one main source of goals in any case.

"Look at Liverpool; across the front three, they scored 60-something goals last season between the three of them," said Lampard.

"Every team is its own entity and it doesn't have to be one way to win a game or to score a goal.

"We obviously have to score from different areas of the pitch and that's pretty clear. We need to score more goals at this moment, for sure. That's work for the squad."

24 August 2019

Chelsea changes

So Frank Lampard has made two alterations to the side that was held by Leicester City, with N'Golo Kante replaced by Mateo Kovacic following that ankle sprain against the Foxes.

Meanwhile, Tammy Abraham is preferred to Olivier Giroud up front.

Photo: Reuters 

Norwich City, meanwhile, name the same XI that defeated Newcastle United 3-1 here last weekend.

24 August 2019

Here are the confirmed teams for today's game, and Chelsea are as we expected!

Norwich XI: Krul, Aarons, Hanley, Godfrey, Lewis, Leitner, Trybull, Cantwell, Stiepermann, Emi, Pukki.

Substitutes: Byram, Vrancic, Klose, Fahrmann, McLean, Tettey, Srbeny.

Chelsea XI: Arrizabalaga, Azpilicueta, Zouma, Christensen, Emerson, Kovacic, Jorginho, Pedro, Mount, Pulisic, Abraham.

Substitutes: Alonso, Barkley, Willian, Caballero, Giroud, Batshuayi, Tomori.

23 August 2019

Hello and welcome to Standard Sport's latest live coverage of the Premier League.

The first stop on a busy Saturday is Carrow Road, where Frank Lampard will hope to earn his first competitive win as Chelsea manager after defeat to Manchester United and a disappointing draw with Leicester.

Standing in his way is a newly-promoted Norwich side that will be full of confidence after a big victory over Newcastle in which prolific frontman Teemu Pukki netted a hat-trick.

Stay tuned for build-up, team news and latest updates...

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