Chelsea will be locking horns with Norwich City at the Stamford Bridge in the English Premier League (EPL) game on Saturday.
The defending champions of the EPL will have to show a lot of character to resurrect their campaign. Chelsea are languishing at the 16th position of the EPL points table and that surely is not a good sight for club owner Roman Abramovich and coach Jose Mourinho would want to fix their form as early as possible. A good opportunity lies ahead of the men in blue on Saturday when they will take on Norwich City at the former's home ground.
Chelsea have now lost three back-to-back EPL games against West Ham, Liverpool and Stoke City and that hampered their confidence level. At the moment, Chelsea are just three points clear of the relegation zone.
The club has supported Mourinho and they feel that he is the right man for the job. Abramovich has a lot of faith on the Portuguese coach. The owner felt that Mourinho can pull Chelsea out of the current predicament and bring them back in form in the ongoing season of the EPL.
"I'm not saying I won't sign [anyone]. I'm saying I won't ask the club to do it. I don't have the right to do it, in my opinion. I'd be more than happy to be myself and the squad that I have now. I am happy with my players, I trust the players. If I ask for players, or if the club gives me a handful of players, it's like taking the responsibility [away from] us and saying we need extra to reach our objectives," Mourinho told the reporters at the press conference ahead of their encounter against Norwich City on Saturday.
"I want to have the responsibility in my hands, I want the players to have the responsibility. I want the players to feel that I trust them and that I don't need other players to reach the objectives. I think we should go together, me and the players. I hope everybody stays and I hope nobody comes."
Meanwhile, Norwich City are in a slightly better position ahead of the Chelsea game. Before the start of the season they would have surely thought about this fixture as on of the toughest fixtures as they will have to take on the big boys of the Stamford Bridge. But at this moment they are a point above the defending champions and they are coming into this match riding on the win against Swansea City prior to the two-week's break.
"I can't speak for anybody else but I have never had a problem. I try to conduct myself as well as I can. In games there will always be an element of frustration if you feel hard done by, and there has been a few occasions this season when I feel we could have got them in our favour and we didn't but that is ultimately the referee's decision. It is one person's opinion of the matter so those situations will always occur," Norwich City head coach Alex Neil told the reporters.
"As far as I am concerned, they have a hard enough job as it is without me making it any harder. There is ways and means of getting your point across to the referees if you feel hard done by. There have been occasions when I have spoken to the referee but as long as you do it in a respectful manner and you approach them in that way most I have found are willing to talk to you. I have no issues at all."
Expected lineups:
Chelsea: Begovic; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta; Fabregas, Matic; Willian, Hazard, Pedro; Costa.
Norwich City: Ruddy; Whittaker, Martin, Bassong, Brady; Redmond, Tettey, Mulumbu, Hoolahan, Howson; Mbokani.
Where to Watch Live
Chelsea vs Norwich City is scheduled for a 3pm pm local time (7:30 pm IST, 9 am ET) start. Star Sports 1 and Star Sports HD1 will broadcast the match live in India, while the online live streaming options are on Starsports.com and Hotstar.
Live TV coverage for viewers in the UK is not available. But they can stream the match live on Chelsea TV Online.
Australia viewers can watch the EPL game live on Fox Sports 3, while the online live streaming options are on Fox Sports On Demand and Foxtel Play.
Watch Chelsea vs Norwich City live in the US on NBC Sports Network, with the live stream option on NBC Sports Live Extra. Audience in Canada can watch the action live onTSN and TSN TV.
In Singapore, the Chelsea vs Norwich City match will be shown live on 102 Mio HD, while the action can be watched live in Malaysia on Fox Sports.
Viewers in Thailand can flip their remotes to CTH, while audience in Indonesia can watch the EPL game live on Orange TV.PPTV and QQ Sports will show the EPL action live in China.
Audience in the Middle East and North Africa will be able to watch the EPL match live onBein Sports Arabia, with the live streaming option on Bein Sports Connect.
