Josh Sargent and Norwich were at the mercy of ruthless Chelsea, while Tim Ream and Antonee Robinson’s Fulham tasted victory to climb in to second in the Championship.
Norwich 0 – 7 Chelsea
Josh Sargent continued in his starting role next to Teemu Puki for Norwich, but they had their work cut out for them against Premier League big boys Chelsea.
Christian Pulisic remains out through injury at Chelsea, who were also missing their two front men in Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner. That did not stop Chelsea from rolling seven past Tim Krul.
Sargent looked as lively as always, but hardly got a kick of the ball as Chelsea dominated the run of play. Mason Mount got on the score sheet for the first time since May with a stunning goal in the eighth minute. Callum Hudson-Odoi doubled the advantage in the 18th minute before Reece James was cool and cruel as he chipped Krul for the third of the night just before half time.
The second half went from bad to worse, with Ben Chillwell scoring Chelsea’s fourth in the 57th minute before Max Aarons deflected a cross into the net for an own goal five minutes later.
As if that wasn’t enough, in the 65th minute Gibson was shown a second yellow card as Norwich went down to 10 men. Sargent was substituted in the 69th minute in a restructure, but Chelsea would still add two more, coming from the impeccable Mount. An 85th minute penalty was cooly slotted home before the midfielder completed his hat trick in the 91st minute, his first career three-goal game for Chelsea.
Sargent will hope to keep his starting position Sunday at home against Leeds, while Chelsea play Tuesday against Southampton in the League Cup.
Nottingham Forest 0 – 4 Fulham
Tim Ream and Antonee Robinson continued on their winning ways over Ethan Horvath’s Nottingham Forest, with Fulham taking all the points on the road in their second consecutive high scoring performance.
The first half was balanced, but Fulham were on the front foot early as Forest player Djed Spence deflected an Aleksander Mitrovic strike in to his own goal in the seventh minute. Whatever the half time talk from Marco Silva was, it worked as Fulham went on to score three more goals.
The second goal on the night came from Mitrovic in the 58th minute, before Neeskens Kebano put away the third in the 61st minute. In true strikers fashion, Mitrovic added a fourth to put the game to bed in the 67th minute with a coolly taken penalty.
Ream and Robinson will surely be pleased with their clean sheet as they turn their attention to West Brom on Saturday, while Horvath and Nottingham Forest face QPR on Friday. Fulham now sit in second, while Forest are in 15th.
Notes
Zack Steffen was on the bench for Man City in their 4-1 win over Brighton.
Folarin Balogun did not make the bench for Arsenal in their 3-1 home win against Aston Villa.
Daune Holmes played the final 27 minutes for Huddersfield Town as they lost 3-0 against Championship leaders Bournemouth. Huddersfield Town face off against Millwall on Saturday.
Matthew Olosunde did not feature for Preston North Ends 2-0 loss to Blackpool.
Lynden Gooch made the bench after a short stint out through injury, playing the final 20 minutes for Sunderland in their 1-0 loss to Charlton Athletic, who are in the relegation zone.
