Chelsea 1 Norwich 0
Chelsea recorded their first win in four Premier League matches as Diego Costa ended a seven-game goal drought to give them victory over Norwich.
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The champions came into the game off the back of a three-match losing streak and were frustrated for an hour by a stubborn display from the Canaries.
But the Blues finally broke through when Costa finished off Cesc Fabregas' quickly taken free-kick.
The home side were denied a second when Kurt Zouma's flick hit the crossbar.
But the three points take precedence over the size of the scoreline for Jose Mourinho's side, who now have 14 points from 13 games and move ahead of Saturday's opponents into 15th place in the table.
Back to winning ways
For the past month, reports have repeatedly suggested that Blues manager Mourinho was one defeat away from the sack and yet he remains in place, having overseen three league losses in succession.
The Blues' fortunes hit a new low two weeks ago when Marko Arnautovic's goal for Stoke consigned them to a 1-0 defeat as a powerless Mourinho watched on from a hotel room as a result of a stadium ban.
The Portuguese was back in the dug-out for Saturday's match, although he spent much of the game prowling the touchline with a look of increasing concern as his side strove in vein to break down a well-drilled and stubborn City.
It will be heartening to Mourinho that the moment that ultimately won the game came from a link-up so central to last season's title-winning success.
Fabregas - who has yet to hit the heights that saw him provide 18 assists last campaign - took a quick free-kick that caught Norwich out and found Costa, who cut inside Ryan Bennett and found the far corner of John Ruddy's net.
It was only Costa's fourth goal of the season, following a debut 2014-15 campaign that yielded 20.
