EPL Roundup: Chelsea win despite Abramovich sanction as Leeds lose again

Chelsea beat Norwich 3-1 away at Carrow Road on Thursday night despite the sanctions placed on the club owner, Roman Abramovich. The club has had to be granted a special permit to continue their participation in the Premier League.

The Blues got off to the best possible start when Trevoh Chalobah headed in direct from a corner kick taken by Mason Mount in the third minute.

The second goal followed quickly courtesy of a rasping effort by Mount from inside the Norwich box on the 14th minute. Thomas Tuchel had made some alterations to the starting 11, starting Timo Werner, Cesar Azpilicueta who replaced the ill Christian Pulisic, and the injured Reece James.

It was total domination for the European champions as they sought to cement their third spot on the table. Ruben Loftus-Cheek came on for Azpilicueta at the start of the second half but Norwich were better and quicker and their pressure paid off when VAR awarded a penalty in the 67th minute after a handball from Chalobah.

Teemu Pukki stepped up to beat Edouard Mendy and suddenly the Canaries were buoyed and went in search of an unlikely equaliser.

Tuchel sent on Romelu Lukaku for Werner and N’Golo Kante for Mateo Kovacic and it was the Blues who got the fourth goal in the match when Kai Havertz lashed home from the edge of the box on the dot of 90 minutes.

Chelsea stay third on the table with 56 points from 27 matches followed by Arsenal in fourth with 48 points from 25 matches.

In other matches on Thursday evening, Leeds United lost their sixth consecutive Premier League match-the second under new manager, Jesse Marsch.

Philippe Coutinho scored the first in the 22nd minute and despite Leeds’ improvement in the second half, Matty Cash scored a second with great composure and Callum Chambers completed the rout with a delicious shot in the 73rd minute. Villa are up to ninth.

Also in the relegation battle, Watford were hammered away at Molineux. After two consecutive losses, Bruno Lage was hoping for a reaction and he got it even though Watford also had themselves to blame with some sloppy defending and defensive blunders.

Raul Jimenez scored his first goal in four weeks; Juan Hernandez scored an own goal just as Daniel Podence pounced on a mistake from Ben Foster to score the third, all by the 21st minute. Ruben Neves produced the goal of the night with a delightful lob with five minutes left on the clock.

At St Mary’s, Newcastle continued their upward climb with a 2-1 win away at Southampton. Chris Wood and Bruno Guimaraes scored the Newcastle goals after Stuart Armstrong had given Southampton the lead on 25 minutes. The Magpies are up to 14th place with 31 points-10 points clear of the relegation places.