EVERTON WERE UNABLE to do their city rivals Liverpool a favour by taking points of Manchester City yesterday meaning two points separate the Premier League’s three title rivals.

Chelsea were sent packing from the Champions League earlier this week but can reclaim top spot in the league table by beating 18th-placed Norwich, who would draw level with Sunderland if they picked up an unlikely victory.

Here are the teams:

Chelsea: Schwarzer, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Cole, Lampard, Matic, Salah, Willian, Schurrle, Ba. Subs: Luiz, Torres, van Ginkel, Hazard, Eto’o, Kalas, Hilario.

Norwich: Ruddy, Martin, Ryan Bennett, Turner, Whittaker, Johnson, Snodgrass, Howson, Tettey, Olsson, Elmander. Subs: Bassong, van Wolfswinkel, Fer, Hooper, Bunn, Elliott Bennett, Redmond.

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has wrote a message to his son in today’s match programme, thanking him for all his support.

Here we go then… Do Norwich have any hope of getting something from this? They’ve lost all of their last five games in the league.

Chelsea without a raft of first team players today…

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Demba Ba controls a long ball on his chest but it gets away from the striker and Andre Schurrle follows up with a shot that is easily saved by John Ruddy.

Ashley Cole goes on a mazy run down the left flank and wins the home side a corner. Play is held up however, as Ba is down holding his chest after being caught off the ball by Canaries defender Michael Turner.

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The resulting corner is cleared and Senegalese forward Ba looks fine to continue.

Big shout for a penalty as Martin Olsson is taken down inside the box by a late challenge from Cole. Referee Neil Swarbrick waves it away the appeals but looks like a bad call in my humble opinion.

Olsson sends a superb cross to the back post where Robert Snodgrass is narrowly short of making contact. Chelsea have yet to get going here.

John Terry gets heads on target but it’s saved by Ruddy. Minutes later, Willian gets to the end line but his cross is well over-hit. The home side have enjoyed the lion’s share of possession so far but decent chances have been few and far between.

It hasn’t been the best of starts for Demba Ba…

Matic wins possession in midfielder and plays in Schurrle. The German international cuts onto his right foot and curls a strike towards the far post but his strike hits the upright and bounces back into play.

Schurrle has been busy and forces Ruddy into another save moments later.

Here’s that contentious decision from early on. What do you reckon?
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Johnson has a pop from distance but it’s deflect out for Norwich’s first corner of the game.

HALF-TIME: Chelsea 0-0 Norwich 

And we’re back…

Eden Hazard and David Luiz have been introduced in place of Lampard and Salah as Mourinho attempts to add some life to the game.

The new men have already been in the thick of the action with Hazard finding Ivanovic, who in turn laid off for Luiz. The Brazilian chooses to shoot first time but crashes it off the bar.

We’ve got ourselves another debatable call. Hazard bursts into the box and Ryan Bennett swings a leg at the Belgian. He doesn’t make contact but it’s a clumsy challenge. The ball then finds its way to John Terry, who is ruled offside. A couple of the Chelsea players are incensed and Ivanovic picks up a yellow card for protesting.

It’s all Chelsea now and Matic sees his shot deflected behind for a corner. It’s sent to the near post where Luiz gets a flick on but sends the ball over the bar.

With Chelsea pushing on in numbers, Norwich have a rare counter attack through Nathan Redmond. He slides through for Snodgrass but Cahill recovers well and makes a vital block.

Here comes Fernando Torres. The Spaniard is on in place of Matic with Willian dropping into midfield.

Says it all really…

Hazard has been the difference since coming on. He ghosts past a couple of challenges and fires down the throat of Ruddy, who parries. The ball falls to Torres but he gets it all wrong and shoots high and wide.

Eight minutes on the clock and Chelsea are still to make a breakthrough. They really can’t afford to drop two more points if they are to have any hope of winning the title.

Just three minutes of injury time to play.

Norwich go long with a throw-in and Johnson wins the header but it’s into the hands of Schwarzer.

FULL-TIME: Chelsea 0-0 Norwich 

And three become two. A point behind both Man City and Liverpool, who have a game in-hand, Chelsea’s title hopes appear to be in ruin.

For Norwich, a hard-fought draw means they remain in 19th — three points away from safety with ahead of their final game against Arsenal next Sunday.