In the midst of the ‘Abramovich storm’, Chelsea beat Norwich 3-1

Affected by the financial sanctions imposed on its Russian owner Roman Abramovich that cast a shadow over the future of the club, Chelsea beat bottom club Norwich 3-1 on Thursday in a late game of Matchday 30.

The victory, however, has little consequence in the standings: Chelsea, third, is 7 points behind Liverpool, second with the same number of games played, and is 8 ahead of Arsenal, fourth with two fewer games).

On Thursday morning, the British government announced new sanctions against several Russian oligarchs, including millionaire Roman Abramovich, who has owned Chelsea since 2003 and whose assets have been frozen.

These measures, taken because of his alleged relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the army to invade Ukraine, prevent the sale of the European champion club that the billionaire announced a few days ago.

Before the game, coach Thomas Tuchel was not “concerned” about the future of the ‘Blues’. “It changes daily,” he told reporters.

“As long as we have jerseys and a bus to take us to the games, we will be there and we will compete hard,” said the German after the game.

“Everyone can be sure that we focus on ourselves to keep the right attitude and mindset in practice and with the team.” he added.

His team received a dose of calm when they settled the game against Norwich, thanks to early goals from Trevor Chalobah (3) and Mason Mount (14).

Finn Teemo Pukki put on some excitement by converting a penalty in the provisional 2-1 (69), but German Kai Havertz sentenced at the buzzer (90).

In other postponed matches of the English championship, Newcastle continues its climb in the standings and moves further and further away from relegation after winning 2-1 at its visit to Southampton.

Quite the opposite of Leeds, which without Marcelo Bielsa on the bench continues in free fall and lost 3-0 to Aston Villa, whose first goal was scored by Brazilian Philippe Coutinho.

Luckily for Leeds, who for now save from relegation but their pursuers have games postponed, Watford, penultimate, lost 4-0 to Wolverhampton, with Latin American prominence, since the Mexican Raúl Jiménez and the Colombian Cucho Hernández scored a goal each for the ‘Wolves’.

– Results and scorers of the postponed matches of the Premier League:

Matchday 19

Wolverhampton 4 Jiménez (13), Hernández (18 against), Podence (21), Neves (84)

Watford

Day 20

Leeds 0

Aston Villa 3 Coutinho (22), Cash (66), Chambers (73)

Day 21

Southampton 1 Armstrong (25)

Newcastle 2 Woods (32), Guimaraes (52)

Matchday 30

Norwich City 1 Pukki (69 penalties)

Chelsea 3 Chalobah (3), Mount (14), Havertz (90)

Classification: Pts JGEP GF GC Diff

1. Manchester City 69 28 22 3 3 68 18 50

2. Liverpool 63 27 19 6 2 71 20 51

3. Chelsea 56 27 16 8 3 56 19 37

4. Arsenal 48 25 15 3 7 41 29 12

5. Manchester United 47 28 13 8 7 45 38 7

6.West Ham 45 28 13 6 9 46 35 11

7. Tottenham 45 26 14 3 9 40 32 8

8. Wolverhampton 43 28 13 4 11 28 23 5

9. Southampton 35 28 8 11 9 35 43 -8

10. Crystal Palace 33 28 7 12 9 39 38 1

11. Aston Villa 33 26 10 3 13 37 37 0

12. Leicester 33 25 9 6 10 40 43 -3

13. Brighton 33 27 7 12 8 26 32 -6

14. Newcastle 31 27 7 10 10 32 47 -15

15. Brentford 27 28 7 6 15 30 45 -15

16. Leeds 23 28 5 8 15 29 64 -35

17. Everton 22 25 6 4 15 28 46 -18

18. Burnley 21 26 3 12 11 22 36 -14

19. Watford 19 28 5 4 19 27 54 -27

20. Norwich City 17 28 4 5 19 17 61 -44

hap/mcd

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