Norwich City held Chelsea to a scoreless draw at Carrow Road in the Barclays Premier League on Saturday.
Chelsea dominated for the majority of the clash, but were unable to net against The Canaries, who kept their first clean sheet of the season.
The away side started well, but the Blues’ defence had to be alert to prevent Steve Morison from having a strike from eight yards, after Petr Cech had parried Anthony Pilkington’s low cross.
Grant Holt went close with an effort from the edge of the box, before a poor first touch prevented Fernando Torres from having a clean run on goal at the other end, following a fine Juan Mata pass.
Torres, with an intelligently improvised attempt, thought he had scored in the 27th minute, only for John Ruddy to pull off an excellent save.
Although Chelsea were in control for the most part, Norwich continued to look threatening, as Cech adjusted well to gather Bradley Johnson’s deflected shot.
The Blues lost Frank Lampard to a calf injury after 37 minutes, and the England man’s replacement, Florent Malouda, set Mata up with a chance just before the break. The Spaniard, though, fired over after cutting into the box, as Chelsea finished the half on top.
The Londoners worried Norwich on several occasions early in the second period, but failed to create a clear-cut opportunity, until a Jose Bosingwa cross fell to Torres 10 yards out. Taking a couple of touches to control the ball, the striker then toe-poked his shot wide, as a duo of Norwich defenders closed off the space in front of the attacker.
A minute later, Daniel Sturridge played in Mata, with Ruddy getting down well at his near post to keep the clash level.
Chelsea continued to dominate the encounter - Ruddy performed well whenever called upon - and Mata worked a fine chance with 10 minutes remaining, his strike going narrowly wide following Ruddy's touch.
The visitors threw everything at Norwich in the closing stages but the home side held firm to earn a point.