CHELSEA v NORWICH - IT'S JUST A MATTER OF TIME.

This afternoon, Chelsea take on Norwich City at the Bridge and I think we can all agree we are looking for a better start to the game than last week. Everything that needed to be said about the West Brom game has been said and let's put an end to it and look forward to today's game.

With a full week to prepare for this one, with new players introduced to the club in Romeu, Lukaku and Mata, and AVB looking to further stamp his authority on the club, it will be very interesting to see just how he approaches the game.

We all know he prefers 4-3-3, but after half an hour last week, he made a bold decision to make a substitution and change to a 4-4-2. So will he look to stick with the same formation we finished with, revert back to 4-3-3 or introduce what many people believe to be the formation of our future and that's 4-2-3-1?.

The signing of Juan Mata has made alot of headlines this week and rightly so. He is a class act and will prove to be a fantastic signing for the club. AVB has openly said he will not start the game but will be on the bench so he could become involved at some stage. The same can be said of Lukaku and Romeu..

I do expect AVB to make some changes to the side compared to last week and will look for Ivanovic to come in to the side. Whether or not that will be for Alex or Bosingwa is another thing. It could be tempting to start Romeu in place of Mikel but I think for now, he will stick with Mikel.

I can't see Lampard or Ramires losing their places today but Ramires has to start better than last week. He needs to get in the game and settle down early on. Frank Lampard must do more to prove to people he deserves to be playing and he needs to show us much more than what he has done so far.

With this, the last of Danny Sturridge's three match ban, it's a chance for AVB to try something different maybe before he has the option of putting Sturridge back in or start with Mata. I predict that Malouda will start the game wide left, Torres will play through the middle once more but Didier Drogba will play in the "Hulk" position that he played at Porto which is off to the right of the front man.

Nico Anelka had a chance there and got his goal and did OK. Kalou hasn't done a stroke yet so why not give Didier a go there and see if we can get it working?.

Of course I could be way off here and Anelka starts but, it's games like these that enable you to use your players and try something new and that's no disrespect to Norwich at all.

As for Norwich they have earned the right to come and play here and fair play to them. You know any side managed by Paul Lambert will play football and work hard and they will look to do the same later today.

I guess being in their shoes, there is always a danger that your players could lose their focus and get lost in the whole occasion and Lambert will be keen to ensure his players don't do that. They concede an early goal and the floodgates will open as Chelsea look to become much more expressive with the ball.

Expect Lambert to give his side 20-25 minutes to sit in, keep it tight and compact and look to work hard to close down any space in their own half. It's important that Chelsea fans and players alike do not get frustrated if this happens as the game is about 90 minutes. We certainly have plenty of options to change the game.

Norwich fans and I guess their manager would see this as a bonus game. A game where they do not expect to get anything from it as they look to see where they can get the magical 40 points from this season. Anything else from today would be a massive bonus as far as they are concerned. They really have nothing to lose. I wish Norwich all the luck in the world to get the points and to stay in the league to enjoy the ride. You have a good manager and players that want to play for him so in effect your half way there.

Chelsea have everything to lose at the moment looking at our two performances so far compared to the likes of United and especially Man City's games. It is important to remember that change takes time and should be done one step at a time.

This afternoon for me anyway, is about Chelsea taking that next step and to put on a performance or somewhere there or there abouts, that we know we are more than capable of. I want to see players in between the lines of the opposition's midfield and back four creating problems and chances.

I want to see Chelsea playing with a freedom of expression at pace and not this slow laboured approach to the game we have seen for too long now. Chelsea have a chance today to make a real statement of how we will approach our football this season.

It's surely just a matter of time before we do.

KTBFFH

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