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Chelsea scrapped past Norwich City to make it to the next round of the FA Cup. The Blues will face Newcastle United in the 4th round on Sunday, January 28th.
Willy Caballero saved the first Norwich City penalty by Nelson Oliveira in the shoot-out and that was enough to get them the much-needed win. All 5 of Chelsea's penalty takes managed to find the net convincingly and thus Caballero not saving any of the other penalties did not bother them.
Here are the 5 talking points of the game:
#5 – The need for a striker
Michy Batshuayi might have scored the goal for Chelsea finally last night but that should not make the board think that they needn't sign a new striker.
The Belgian is simply not good enough right now to play up front for Chelsea and needs a season out on loan. He cannot hold up the ball for long and he cannot win headers either.
Antonio Conte's men have been linked with a move for Andy Carroll but then signing a 29-year-old is not a long-term solution. They need to find an alternative and fast!
#4 – Norwich City go down fighting
When the FA Cup 3rd round draw came out, everyone made Chelsea favourites to Norwich city. And honestly, why wouldn't anyone back a top Premier League side to beat the Championship side?
The Canaries, however, showed everyone that they are not a side that can be taken lightly. They held Chelsea to a 0-0 draw at Carrow Road and were brilliant at Stamford Bridge too.
They took some time to get into the game but once they did, they shut out Chelsea completely. The Blues were made to struggle in the final third and when Jamal Lewis scored in injury time, the atmosphere in the stadium changed completely.
Despite a solid performance over 210 plus minutes on the pitch, a brilliant penalty save by Caballero was enough to break the Canaries faithful's hearts.
#3 – Tactical change again?
When Chelsea drew 0-0 vs Leicester cit, there was a call for a change in the formation. Antonio Conte made that: he started with a 3-4-3 but that wasn't enough to break the Norwich City defence on a lot of occasions.
If a club needs to be successful, the manager needs to adapt and come up with new plans. Conte needs to get back to the chalkboard and make another formation change.
The Blues have become way too predictable in the final third and the clubs are finding it easy to defend against them. If a Championship club like Norwich can keep Chelsea at bay for most of the 210+ minutes, there is no way Chelsea are getting past Manchester City and Barcelona.
#2 – Why wasn't the VAR used?
Willian was booked for a 'dive' when there was clear contact and the referee failed to use the VAR to check. He, nor his linesman thought there was contact and they just bluntly decided not to go for the VAR.
The new technology is there for such situations and if it is not used, then what is the use of spending so much on it? Antonio Conte was clearly furious with this and made it clear to the referees before they left the pitch.
Morata and Pedro were booked as well for diving and they both were eventually sent off. While Pedro's was a clear dive, Morata went down way too easily when the Norwich City defender kept his hand on his shoulder.
#1 – Chelsea's best chance of silverware?
Antonio Conte has the pressure of winning a silverware or losing his job at Chelsea. The manager has only two ways out: either win the FA Cup or the Carabao Cup.
Chelsea will be facing Arsenal in the second leg of the Carabao cup semi-final next week and even if they win, they are likely to face Manchester City. The Blues have struggled against the Cityzens but will hope for a change of fortune.
The FA Cup 4th round draw saw Chelsea get drawn Newcastle United. The Magpies are not in good form and Antonio Conte would be hoping that Chelsea can use that game to get back to their old form.
The FA Cup still has Manchester United, Manchester City and Tottenham in the race but the Blues would be hoping to get easy draws until the very end.
