Premier League preview: Norwich v Chelsea

Norwich welcome Chelsea to Carrow Road in the Premier League on Saturday with both sides undefeated in 2012.

The Canaries have surprised many on their return to the Premier League this season, with a blend of consistent home and away form providing the backbone, not only to avoid relegation, but propel them to their current and loftiest position of ninth.

Norwich’s blistering start to the year has seen them account for QPR and West Bromwich away in the Premier League as well as Burnley at home in their FA Cup third-round tie.

A testament to their consistency is the fact that Norwich have only failed to take points off Aston Villa of the sides outside the top five.

With the core of last season’s Championship-winning side still intact, much praise must be lavished upon manager Paul Lambert who has presided over a hugely successful campaign to date.

But it is clear Lambert still has his squad fixated on their goal to firstly avoid relegation, as goalkeeper John Ruddy affirmed during the week.

“Everybody talks about the 40-point mark. We’re only 12 points off that now and confident that if we keep playing like this we will get to that mark sooner rather than later,” Ruddy said.

“The manager won’t allow us to think about safety, and he’s brought a mentality where there’s no big egos in the team.”

Steve Morison remains Norwich’s biggest threat up front and scored one of his eight league goals last start in the side’s 2-1 win over West Brom.

Their opponents Chelsea, likewise, have won their past three matches. Back-to-back wins in the league over Martin O’Neill’s resurgent Sunderland and Wolverhampton sandwiched a thumping 4-0 FA Cup win over Portsmouth.

Chelsea, as they have come accustomed to, will have to negotiate the next month or so without Didier Drogba while he plays for the Ivory Coast at the Africa Cup of Nations, but it will hand the much-maligned Fernando Torres a golden opportunity to stamp his claim for more regular playing time.

One of the worst kept secrets in football, Gary Cahill’s switch from Bolton, was finally completed during the week with the England defender to bolster what has been a shaky looking defence this season.

Michael Essien made his long-awaited return from a knee injury against Sunderland last Saturday and his re-introduction will add further steel to the midfield as Chelsea look to push further up the table in the latter part of the season.

Branislav Ivanovic and John Obi Mikel remain sidelined with hamstring injuries.