Christian Pulisic 7, Olivier Giroud 6; Tim Krul 8, Josip Drmic 5 - Chelsea v Norwich City player ratings

Giroud scored with virtually the last touch of the first half for scrappy 1-0 win at Stamford Bridge

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  CHELSEA RATINGS: Kepa Arrizabalaga – 6, Will have been happy for such a quiet night given the questions that have been asked of him of late. AFP

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  Cesar Azpilicueta – 7, Rarely will he have felt more like an attacker. Hardly needed in defence, so spent most of the game providing ammo for his forwards. AFP

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  Antonio Rudiger – 6, Heeded his manager’s call for more direct passing, but his radar was not always working. Made one fine tackle to stub out a rare Norwich attack. AFP

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  Kurt Zouma – 6, Should have scored with a header from a corner when six yards out early on. Daft booking for a foul on Max Aarons in an unthreatening position. AFP

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  Marcos Alonso – 5, Had the freedom of Chelsea’s left flank, and he should have made more of the positions he found himself in. Reuters

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  Jorginho - 6, The standard Jorginho enigma: either canny midfield scheming, or entirely vanilla – take your pick. EPA

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  Ruben Loftus-Cheek – 5, Looked disorientated on a rare start, and was caught a painful blow from Todd Cantwell to compound his frustration. AFP

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  Mateo Kovacic – 7, The home side had a lack of thrust, bearing in mind they were playing the league’s worst side. Kovacic seemed the player most keen to address that. AFP

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  Christian Pulisic - 7, Denied a fine goal by Krul, then provided a cross so delightful that even Giroud was able to convert. AFP

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  Willian - 6, Given the stellar run of performances the Brazilian has had lately, this counted as a quiet evening. AFP

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  Olivier Giroud - 6, Had one attempt on goal that hit his standing leg and went off in entirely the wrong direction, but at least fared better with his head. AFP

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  SUBS: Ross Barkley - 6, Came on for Loftus-Cheek at the second-half drinks break, and started like he meant it with a spectacular cross-field pass that Alonso wasted. AFP

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  Reece James – 7, Showed more in the way of appetising delivery in his short stint on the field than the rest of his side managed the rest of the time. EPA

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  Callum Hudson-Odoi – NA, Came on for Pulisic, but had little chance to impress. AFP

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  Tammy Abraham - NA, Arrived late in place of Giroud and served a purpose, namely to chew up time. Reuters

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  NORWICH RATINGS: Tim Krul – 8, The loudest voice on the field, which his opposition manager might have appreciated. No chance for Giroud’s goal, but confident enough besides that. AFP

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  Max Aarons – 6, Overrun by Pulisic and Alonso, but he was not getting much help from the midfield in front of him. AFP

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  Ben Godfrey - 6, Nearly donated a goal to Giroud on 20 minutes with a lame back-header, but did well to help limit the shots on Krul’s goal. EPA

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  Timm Klose- 6, Soldiered on after a leg injury from a collision with Pulisic, but lost Giroud for the opener – then copped an arm in the face from the same man. EPA

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  Jamal Lewis – 7, The fact Willian was uncharacteristically quiet was a commendation for the man who lined up opposite him. AFP

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  Alexander Tettey – 6, Made it as far as the 78th minute, having been chasing shadows for much of the time till he was substituted. Reuters

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  Lukas Rupp – 5, Lucky not to be booked for an early foul on Loftus-Cheek, and struggled for any sort of foothold thereafter. EPA

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  Kenny McLean – 6, Did well helping Lewis with the double threat of Willian and Azpilicueta, but to the detriment of anything constructive going forward. Reuters

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  Todd Cantwell - 6, Unlucky to be the first Canaries player to be hooked by Daniel Farke as he was of the few carrying some attacking oomph. AFP

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  Onel Hernandez - 6, Tenacious and determined when Norwich were out of possession. Which was most of the game. Reuters

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  Josip Drmic – 5, Might need to be reintroduced to his teammates, given how far apart he was from them for most of the evening. EPA

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  SUBS: Teemu Pukki – 5, Continues to cut a disconsolate figure on the bench. His glorious start to the campaign seems sepia tinted now. EPA

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  Emi Buendia – 5, The first sub used as he came on for Cantwell, but was unable to offer the same threat. Reuters

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  Marco Stiepermann – 5, Scarcely noticeable in the 15 minutes he was given at the end. AFP

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  Adam Idah – 6, Pulled quite a stunt to evade the offside flag as Norwich mounted a rare attack late on. AFP

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  Josh Martin - NA, Another brief cameo provided him with just enough time to make a foul. EPA

Olivier Giroud headed the only goal as Chelsea moved a step closer to securing Champions League football with a win over Norwich City.

The home side were some way short of their best in a tepid encounter at Stamford Bridge against the already-relegated Canaries.

But Giroud’s goal in injury-time at the end of the first half was enough to secure three valuable points for Chelsea.