Norwich were so bad they ‘made Antonio Rudiger look like Cafu’ as Premier League leaders Chelsea turned on the style in a stunning 7-0 rout of in-trouble Canaries.
It was top versus bottom at Stamford Bridge and the gulf in quality was abundantly clear as Thomas Tuchel’s men simply blew the visitors away, even without injured frontmen Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner.
Why do you need them, when you’ve got Ben Chilwell banging in the goals, and Mason Mount ending his goal drought with a hat-trick?
Mount got the party started with a cracker with just eight minutes on the clock – a lovely low strike from outside the box after a breakaway down the left from Callum Hudson-Odoi.
Hudson-Odoi, back in the team with both Lukaku and Werner on the sidelines, then scored his first goal under Tuchel with a great finish, curling the ball low around Tim Krul into the bottom corner after a defence-unlocking pass from Matteo Kovatic.
Chelsea’s third was a goal made in Cobham, Mount playing in Reece James who showed the clinical touch of a striker to beat the keeper with a wicked dink, and Chilwell then got in on the fun with a brilliant finish from the left – the England defender making it four goals from his last four Premier League appearances.
Chelsea’s fifth goal with ‘humiliation on top of humiliation’, according to talkSPORT host Dean Ashton, as he watched a Hudson-Odoi cross take a deflection and the ball creeping past a wrong-footed Krul.
Things then went from bad to worse for Norwich as centre-back Ben Gibson was then sent off for a second bookable offence – a rash lunge on James.
And the huge victory was wrapped up with two late goals from Mount, who netted his second from the penalty spot before clinching his hat-trick with a tap in after a great run from Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
The seven-goal win sees Chelsea extend their lead over Liverpool at the top of the Premier League table to four points, with the Blues now above the Reds on goal difference.
But it was a dark day for the Canaries, who remain rock-bottom of the league without a win with nine games played.
Former Norwich striker Ashton was stunned by what he was watching as he sat in the commentary booth for talkSPORT at Stamford Bridge.
And he didn’t hold back in his damning assessment of the Canaries’ performance, which he said allowed Chelsea players to ‘show off’ to feel like they were Lionel Messi whenever they had the ball.
“Sorry Norwich, but it’s just abysmal defending,” said Ashton. “If you don’t get close to quality players, you’re going to get punished.
“You’ve got to be aggressive. I haven’t seen that from Norwich, they’ve been passive and they’ve got exactly what they deserve.
“If you’re a Norwich supporter, this will just annoy you.
“Rudiger all of a sudden looks like Cafu on the right hand side. They’re making good players look like incredible players.
“They’re allowing Chelsea to have five or ten yards of space, and it’s making themselves feel and look like they’re Messi-esque. There were olés from the Chelsea fans.
“Chelsea were good, absolutely, they’ve got quality players, but I’m sorry, I just don’t recognise this Norwich team.
“This is nowhere near the same team that was promoted last season. It’s not the same side that entertained, been hard to beat and score against in the Championship, that excited fans all over the country. They’ve lost all belief, there’s no confidence.
““But the one thing you can’t forgive is the work rate. You have to earn the right in any Premier League game to play and show off the ability they do have in the team, but didn’t deserve anything from this game.
“The work rate to win back the ball in their half and stop Chelsea playing, it’s non-existent.
“I’m embarrassed to watch that and Norwich fans should be too. It was a woeful performance to just just allow Chelsea to show off.
“That was painful to watch.”
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