Tonight’s clash at Carrow Road may be between visitors Chelsea, boasting the level-best defence in the Premier League and bottom-placed Norwich, the second worst, but there can be no room for complacency on the Londoners’ Founders’ Day.

This the Blues’ 15th away trip in 27 matches, after which seven of our final 11 league fixtures will take place at Stamford Bridge, starting with Newcastle on Sunday. Today’s fixture was brought forward nine days as a result of Chelsea’s FA Cup quarter-final commitments.

The hosts have conceded two or more times in each of their past four league games, stumbling 3-1 at home on Saturday, but it could have been far worse. Around them in the foothills, Leeds, Watford and Everton all lost, meaning the bottom five combined have collected just two points from their past 15 matches.

As well as fending off teams below, the European and world champions did the Canaries a favour by adding Burnley to that casualty list at the weekend. In doing so, we also notched up a third successive league victory with a clean sheet, last achieved in October. The run back then included the reverse fixture to this.

Norwich have lost all 10 of their previous league meetings with the current top seven teams, scoring once and conceding 34. Seven of those came at the Bridge, with Mason Mount bagging his first senior hat-trick (the Blues’ first for two years). That was Chelsea’s fifth straight crushing of the Canaries in the league.

Chelsea team news

Chelsea are currently unbeaten in away trips to all clubs from sixth to 20th, registering nine victories and two draws, scoring 23 times and conceding just three. Tonight the Blues will aim to complete the grand slam away to promoted sides for the first time since bettering Burnley, Leicester and QPR in 2014/15.Last weekend’s 4-0 downing of the Clarets was remarkable for all the goals coming after half-time, the most emphatic second-half performance of Thomas Tuchel’s tenure. Coincidentally, the last time the Blues hit four after the break was the 7-0 thrashing of Norwich at the Bridge in October.

Mason Mount dropped back from attack to midfield at Burnley to free up N’Golo Kante for the restart, but it was Reece James’ contribution that caught the eye. The wing-back’s intelligence and incisiveness produced his Hazard-esque opener and an irresistible cross for double-goalscorer Kai Havertz. Sadly he also picked up an injury and is unavailable this evening, though Cesar Azpilicueta, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Marcos Alonso have returned to training.

In the past two games the same attacking trident of Mount, Havertz and Christian Pulisic has been selected to start and excelled. The revitalised Pennsylvanian grabbed his fourth in the league and crossed superbly for in-form Havertz, who has the same top-flight tally but four in the last five games across all competitions.

Mason Mount’s hat-trick in the 7-0 against Norwich at the Bridge means he has scored five and set up another in his past three league appearances against the Canaries.

Opposition attackers have had plenty of joy behind Norwich’s high defensive line, and the quick turnaround between this game and Newcastle on Sunday may prompt a tweak in attack. Hudson-Odoi, Romelu Lukaku, Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech will all be pressing their case in training.

It is worth noting that the hosts have the worst penalty record in the league (conceding eight of the 10 spot-kicks awarded against them), while the Londoners have netted a perfect seven this season, more than any rival.

Canaries and the goal mine

Measured over the past four matches at Carrow Road, bottom club Norwich are the 13th most in-form home team in the top flight. The problem all season for them, though, is that they have scored too few goals (14) and let too many in (56). Teemu Pukki has accounted for seven of their 16 strikes in this league campaign, the highest reliance on a single goalscorer at any club.

Saturday’s visit by Brentford encapsulated their struggle: eventually stung 3-1 by the Bees, the Canaries had started brightly, pressed from the front and had a number of good chances to open the scoring.

Instead opportunities were squandered and defensive errors were made. The west Londoners ended a run of five successive defeats on the road and another life raft drifted out of reach for the East Anglians.

Norwich’s support is very loyal but frustrated boos greeted the final whistle again. Daniel Farke has been replaced by Dean Smith and 5-3-2 has become 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3, but corners regularly ruffle the Canaries’ feathers and initiated their downfall on Saturday.

Left-back Brandon Williams was caught napping by an inswinger to the back post and an outswinging variation led to the first of Ben Gibson’s two penalty concessions (the former Middlesbrough and Burnley centre-back, you may recall, was sent-off five goals into our emphatic 7-0 victory at the Bridge).

Any concern about a player’s mental or physical fatigue could steer Smith’s hand with the relegation six-pointer at Leeds to come on Sunday.He has one or two ruled out anyway, including forward Adam Idah, heavily involved recently, and defender Andrew Omobamidele. Pierre Lees Melou could step in for ineligible Chelsea loanee Billy Gilmour, who has fought his way to regular starts in a testing season, and German midfielder Lukas Rupp has been declared fit. Tim Krul returned between the posts against Liverpool in the cup and kept his place against the Bees.

Seven up

Our most recent encounter at the Bridge in October ended in a historic 7-0 win: a record margin of victory under Thomas Tuchel, matching our fourth highest ever in the league, and an equal-biggest ever Premier League loss for the Canaries, tipping them over 1,000 goals conceded since 1992/93.

Not since the 8-0 thrashing of Aston Villa on 23 December 2012 had the Londoners racked up such a score. Setting aside own goals, Chelsea became the first team for five years to have four different English goalscorers in a league game.

The gap to fifth

Although Thomas Tuchel will want to finish in as lofty a position as possible, in terms of direct qualification to the Champions League group stage there is no difference between our current third slot and last season’s fourth-place finish.

Importantly, the weekend outcomes left a buffer of six points between Chelsea and fifth-placed Manchester Utd, who have played two games more. Arsenal have sufficient fixtures in reserve that they could go two points behind the Blues, but one of those outings is a trip to the Bridge. Our goal difference is also healthy: twice as good as the Gunners’ and 28 superior to Man United.

Goodbye yellow ball

Last weekend saw the first use of Nike’s white, light blue and coral coloured 3rd Flight ball, replacing the high-visibility livery used from the start of November to the end of February.

Chelsea wintered indifferently compared to the opening 10 fixtures, by the end of which we had collected 25 from a possible 30 – the best in the league by three points. Key injuries played their part, including Ben Chilwell’s season-ending one in the third week of November, and Reece James being crocked for two months.

Who’s coming up (again)?

As Chelsea tackle the second of four tests against teams who could be relegated, who are the clubs who could replace them?

Fulham are current leaders of the Championship, 14 points clear of second and third, Bournemouth and Huddersfield (the former with games in hand). There is a familiarity to some of the other play-off contenders too, with recent top-flighters Sheffield United and Middlesbrough in the frame along with Blackburn (last a Premier League club in 2012), and Queens Park Rangers (relegated in 2015).

Our other west London neighbours Fulham have changed tiers four times in as many seasons, but Norwich (along with West Bromwich) hold the record for most ups and downs.

Premier League fixtures

ThursdayNorwich v Chelsea 7.30pmSouthampton v Newcastle 7.30pmWolves v Watford 7.30pmLeeds v Aston Villa 7.45pm