The primal roar that greeted the final whistle from everybody in yellow signified another small step for Norwich City, and a big slip from Chelsea. This was an opportunity for André Villas-Boas’s team to make a statement of intent with all their competitors in the top five playing each other on Sunday, but they squandered it. Even though they were not at their best Chelsea had a long enough spell in control, and sufficient chances, to have won this match. Their carelessness was costly.

It revealed the nature of the game’s intensity that there was not a single foul in the first half. It was gentle lunchtime fare. Chelsea strained for some creative spark, and were unable to exert much authority on a hard working and enterprising Norwich team.

Paul Lambert’s side were eager to ruffle a few feathers, and the front pairing of Grant Holt and Steve Morison caused some discomfort for Chelsea’s backline. Early on Holt latched on to Morison’s through ball and wrong-footed David Luiz, only to steer his shot wide.

Shortly after, Fernando Torres was on the prowl, only to let the chance fizzle out. “We’d rather have Grant Holt,” crooned the Norwich faithful, in honour of the hero whose transfer fee would need multiplying 125 times to reach the cost of Torres’s move to Chelsea.

The Spaniard almost served up an immediate riposte, as he cruised into shooting territory and curled the ball goalwards with the outside of his boot. John Ruddy dived to palm the ball away.

Just before the hour mark Torres had one of those moments that was less forgivable. Having controlled José Bosingwa’s cross, he picked his spot in the far corner but watched with dismay as the ball arced outside the post.

Chelsea began to turn the screw, seizing control and dominating possession. Juan Mata tested Ruddy on a couple of occasions, and the midfielders pushed up to try their luck. First Raul Meireles swept a shot just over the bar. Ramires then took aim with a piledriver that flew into Ruddy’s midriff.

The goalkeeper enjoyed another productive afternoon.

Premier League 2011-12Norwich CityChelseaPremier LeagueAmy Lawrence
guardian.co.uk

• Chelsea captain faces racial abuse charge over QPR game
• Alex discussing £3.5m transfer to QPR, Mark Hughes hopeful

André Villas-Boas will have “no problem” picking John Terry to face Anton Ferdinand when Chelsea play Queens Park Rangers on Saturday week despite his court appearance four days later to face charges of racially abusing the defender.

Terry denies the allegation and his manager said of the FA Cup fourth round meeting: “I’ll have no problem picking John. Not at all. He’ll have to compete against three others [Gary Cahill, Branislav Ivanovic and David Luiz], but we’ll make the right decision.”

Villas-Boas also rounded on the media, claiming it has a responsibility to help calm the situation. “What are you going to do to make that environment a bit better, in terms of headlines and how much time we’re going to see taken up with Anton v Terry?” he said. “It makes no sense at all. If you want to finish, avoid speculating about it, about the return to QPR, a repetition of the images. We can play our part, but so can the media. It’s important to kick any discrimination out of the game, but this game won’t be a reminder of those incidents. It’ll be an intense cup game between two London teams, and hopefully it will be well contested between 22 players.”

The alleged incident occurred during Chelsea’s league defeat at Loftus Road in October and, following it, some Blues fans sang derogatory chants directed at Ferdinand at games. Asked if Villas-Boas would ask supporters not to do this when the teams meet he said: “I have no comment. I don’t want to speak about that. For me, it’s a cup clash at a place we lost points, where we played brilliantly with nine men. Hopefully we can go there and, if we do the same with 11 men with the same commitment, we’ll try and get through the tie.”

Villas-Boas also confirmed the £3.5m deal to take Alex to QPR is still on-going. “From what I know from the club, Alex has been authorised to have talks with QPR and at the moment it’s between them. There hasn’t been any agreement between the clubs, but he’s been allowed to talk with them. We’re speaking about a Brazil international of great value. It’s always difficult to let a player of this dimension go for a price we don’t see as fair. I’m not saying that the offer was below par, but if there’s full interest QPR will make an effort for a player of this quality. It’s important for the well-being of the player [to get it done]. He’s a player who generates a lot of interest, but he’s an expensive player and hopefully he can reach agreement with the club.”

While Mark Hughes reiterated this was also the position for QPR, he is hopeful that Manchester City’s Nedum Onuoha will join soon. “We’ve obviously expressed an interest and I think it is progressing. I don’t think we are at a point where we can confirm or really say it will definitely happen,” he said.

Has the deal moved closer? “I would like to think so. There has been conversations between both clubs and if we can make it happen we will be delighted. I am not sure if we have totally been given permission to speak to the boy but certainly the two clubs are talking. Faxes are going back and forth, emails and what have you, so I would like to think at some point today I’ll be able to speak to him directly and make him understand what we want to do here,” Hughes added before saying he may yet make a further bid for Blackburn Rovers’ Chris Samba.

“We’ve made bids not just for Chris Samba and we’ll see where that takes us. Obviously there comes a point where you need to draw a line under some deals because you don’t think they are going to progress at any given rate.”

John TerryAndré Villas-BoasQPRChelseaFA CupFA Cup 2011-12Jamie Jackson
guardian.co.uk