When the celebration came from Diego Costa, it was almost weary. Certainly it was more relieved that ecstatic.
Moments
before he had eventually found the net, his manager Jose Mourinho had
come off the bench to engage in an animated conversation with his star
striker.
‘Just
side foot it!’ seemed to be gist, as he motioned that action. Or get
into the box and get on the end of it: something along those line,
anyway.
Diego Costa (left) fires homes the winner as he helped Chelsea claim a much-needed three points at Stamford Bridge
The striker is congratulated by Willian and salutes the crowd following his fine individual goal
His team-mates rush to celebrate with him as relief went all around Stamford Bridge after he broke the deadlock
Jose Mourinho looks on as his side clinched a vital three points against a rugged Norwich side
Whatever
it was, Mourinho’s frustration seemed to be growing. Even the Chelsea
fans’ faith might have been wavering. Loic Remy was warming up and
Costa’s time seemed limited.
Up
until the 64th minute, it was simply one of those afternoons that
wasn’t happening for the man who scored 20 goals for the club last
season.
Chelsea
have had multiple problems this season, but Costa’s form, the failure
of Radamel Falcao and unwillingness to trust Remy has been chief amongst
them.
To put
it into context, Costa has now scored seven goals in his last 28
appearances for Chelsea; he scored seven in his first four games for the
club.
So
when the quick free kick from Cesc Fabregas came for Costa from deep
and was controlled by the Brazilian-born player, who cut inside Ryan
Bennett, there was a moment when you wondered, whether even this clear
chance might be spurned.
And
then Costa opened up his body, struck the ball with the kind of
confidence he carried last season and the ball curled around John
Ruddy’s out-stretched hand.
The Spaniard, goes for a loose ball inside the Canaries box but the away side cleared their lines
The striker looks to the referee but his appeals went unanswered as Chelsea continued to be frustrated in the opening 45
Kenedy, who was given the nod at left back, attempts to get away from Dieumerci Mbokani during the first half
Zurt Zouma (right) flattens Norwich's Robbie Brady as the two sides cancelled each other out during the first period
MATCH FACTS, PLAYER RATINGS, PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE AND MATCH ZONE FROM STAMFORD BRIDGE
CHELSEA (4-2-3-1):
Begovic 6.5, Ivanovic 6, Zouma 7.5, Terry 7.5, Kenedy 6.5, Fabregas
7.5, Matic 6.5, Pedro 6.5 (Oscar - 83), Willian 7 (Ramires - 87), Hazard
8 (Azpilicueta - 93), Costa 7
Subs not used: Traore, Remy, Cahill, Blackman
Manager: Mourinho 7
Goals: Costa 64
Booked: Willian
NORWICH (4-2-3-1):
Ruddy 7, Wisdom 5.5, Bennett 5.5, Bassong 6, Olsson 5.5, Redmond 5.5,
O'Neil 6, Mulumbu 6 (Dorrans - 73) 6, Brady 6.5, Howson 6 (Hoolahan -
73) 6, Mbokani 5.5 (Jerome - 73) 6
Subs: Whittaker, Rudd, Lafferty, Odjidja-Ofoe
Manager: Neil 6
Booked: Mulumbu, O'Neil, Olsson, Bassong
Referee: Craig Pawson (South Yorkshire)
MOM: Hazard
Attendance: 41,582
Updated Premier League table
Diego Costa's second half goal is shown using Sportsmail's brilliant Match Zone service. Click here for more from the clash at Stamford Bridge.
The
ripple of the net told Costa that his six-game wait for a goal was
over. And then there was that celebration: Costa simply stood and
pointed with one arm to the sky, seemingly thankful his ordeal was over.
‘When
you don't score goals, you get heavier,’ said Mourinho. ‘Every game
that you don't score goals, you get five kilogrammes more. You get heavy
and the pressure is there. But he's working well, he's a happy guy and
he tries everything. He's positive, so if I had to choose somebody to
score the winning goal, I would go exactly with him.’
But
as Mourinho would acknowledge, prior to that 64th minute strike, there
was nothing to suggest it would come right for Costa. There was a missed
strike on 26 minutes and a worse one just before half time, where he
dallied when played in by a Kenedy cross and allowed Ruddy time to set
himself to save.
Nathan Redmond (centre) looks to escape the attentions of John Terry and set up a counter attack for Norwich
Nemanja Matic looks to nick the ball from Brady after the winger skipped past the challenge of Branislav Ivanovic
The
intervention from the bench from Mourinho came as he held back rather
than drove into the box to connect with a Eden Hazard cross on the hour.
Nothing he did seemed to be the right option.
‘With
so many pundits we have in different media, some of them were strikers
and some of them know the feeling,’ said Mourinho.‘In the first half he
misses two chances. The second one, in the last minute of the first
half, was really a big one. So it was important for him. Important for
us, the result and the goal, but I think also for him.
‘Everything
is connected. I think when you are full of confidence it's not just
about goals, it's also about being fluent. You are fluent in your
decisions, you choose your movements well, you choose the number of
touches you give to the ball well, when to hold, when to keep
possession, when to touch, first touch. When you lose confidence, you
lose this fluent game. Yes, he can do much better, but again, yes, one
goal is very important.’
Blues owner Roman Abramovich looks on as his side look to recover from their poor start to the Premier League season
Matic waltzed past a number of Norwich players late on but his shot was saved and the away side managed to clear
All
around though, relief was order of the day for a Chelsea team which had
lost its last three Premier League games. Costa’s lack of fluency is
merely a function of Chelsea’s own stuttering season. The pertinent
question is whether one victory can spark something of a renaissance and
the evidence was decidedly mixed.
Norwich
may be among their prey in Premier League terms – though they did
actually start the day above them – but they did enough in the first
half to suggest they might add to Chelsea’s woes. The decisive moment
came on 33 minutes when Willian clumsily crashed into Robbie Brady
inside the area, a clear penalty, which referee Craig Pawson declined to
award. Conspiracies, it seems, cut both ways.
‘It
was a key moment for both teams,’ said Alex Neil. ‘Quite a lot this
season we haven’t been getting decisions our way and we should have a
penalty today. We set up with a strategy to frustrate them and hit them
on the counter and I think the first half we did that very well.’
Chelsea fans flew a French flag inside Stamford Bridge to show their support following the terrorism attacks in Paris
Zouma attempts an audacious flick at the near post from Cesc Fabregas' corner but the chance came to nothing
Norwich
had their moments. Only John Terry diving at full stretch prevent
Sebastien Bassong opening the scoring on 42 minutes and Nathan Redmond’s
pace again exposed the weakness of Chelsea’s back four.
That
said, on the plus side, there was a crispness in their build up,
characterised by the continuing return to form from Hazard. At times he
dazzled, playing in the No.10 position. But no-one was capable of
completing his work; certainly not Costa, until that 64th minute
redemption.
A
few minutes later, a lovely Willian free kick was met by a Kurt Zouma
flick, which rebounded off the crossbar. Robbie Brady forced an
excellent save from Asmir Begovic from long-range on 68 minutes.
And
at the end, it seemed Nemanja Matic, much improved, had a mazy run
which ended with him one-on-one with Ruddy, the Norwich keeper needing
to be at his best to smother the shot.
But
Chelsea had their win and Costa had his goal. And Mourinho, who greeted
the final whistle with a little punch of the air, had some respite.
All players wore black armbands throughout the match and as we remember the victims of the terrorism attacks
Mourinho and his coaching staff pay their respects to the victims during a minute's silence before kick-off
Stewards walk through the stands at Stamford Bridge to check the safety for supporters ahead of the Norwich clash
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