Norwich - Chelsea: Preview and Lineups Prediction

Chelsea travel to Carrow Road on Tuesday evening where they will take on a Norwich City side in the joint-worst form of the 20 Premier League clubs.

Guus Hiddink's men are enjoying their best period of the season so far and are showing few signs of ceasing to improve.

On the other hand, the Canaries haven't taken three points from a league fixture since beating a 10-men Southampton team in their first outing of 2016.

To further underline the contrasting fortunes of the two sides, Norwich have taken just seven points from their last ten Premier League fixture, whereas Chelsea have bagged 18 in the same period.

It would be easy for the Blues to underestimate such a despondent opponent and drop a couple of precious points, especially when Alex Neil's troops will almost certainly be up for the challenge of shocking the reigning champions.

Norwich Team News

Andre Wisdom is the single confirmed absentee for the hosts while Sebastian Bassong and Wes Hoolahan are considered doubts for Tuesday evening's clash.

Norwich Starting XI Prediction

Ruddy | Pinto, Bennet, Martin, Klose, Brady | Redmond, Tetley, Howson, Naismith | Mbokani

Previous Meetings

Chelsea 1-0 Norwich (Premier League, November 2015)
Chelsea 0-0 Southampton (Premier League, May 2014)
Norwich 1-3 Chelsea (Premier League, October 2013)
Norwich 0-1 Chelsea (Premier League, December 2012)
Chelsea 4-1 Norwich (Premier League, October 2012)
Norwich 0-0 Chelsea (Premier League, January 2012)

Score Prediction

Chelsea are beginning to demonstrate the cutting edge in the final third of the pitch that made us so deadly last campaign. It might even be fair to suggest our performances throughout the past month or so have made some significant progress towards rendering comparisons between our current form and last campaign redundant.

We have our ever-threatening boxer-cum-striker Diego Costa firing on all cylinders once again, and Hiddink has even mentioned he will consider resting him ahead of the crucial fixtures we have just around the corner.

For the most part, our back four has held firm in the absence John Terry while our creative midfielders have rediscovered their ability to split opposition defences with a clever pass or piece of skill.

The only question in terms of selection worth pondering – and it's a good one to have – is who's our first-choice anchor man in front of the defence: John Obi Mikel or Nemanja Matic? There's always the option to play them both, too. What do you think?

I think we will continue our run with a 2-0 victory over the Canaries. What are your score predictions?