While their East Anglian counterparts are struggling at the foot of the table, Norwich City are fairly flying as they lifted themselves up into second place and one of the automatic promotion spots following last week’s 3-1 home win over Birmingham City.
After a four-match period without a win in the Championship following draws with Nottingham Forest, Brentford and West Brom along with a 4-3 defeat at home to Derby County, Daniel Farke’s men re-ignited their promotion push with the Birmingham win and now play host to fourth placed Sheffield United at Carrow Road on Saturday.
Norwich City have suffered just one defeat from their last eight league matches at Carrow Road amidst an overall record of 9-1-4 29/23 which includes six wins during this recent sequence.
In this ‘six-pointer’ against Sheffield United, Norwich City can lay down a marker here and further extend their three point cushion over both West Brom and Sheffield United to strengthen their claims of promotion back to the Premier League.
Manager, Farke, is likely to name an unchanged side that beat Birmingham recently with leading goalscorer Teemu Pukki (16 goals) leading the way, while midfielders Stiepermann (3 goals), Buendia (3 goals) and Hernandez (4 goals) will provide valuable support.
Only Matty Jarvis and Louis Thompson are sidelined for The Canaries ahead of this crucial promotion clash.
Sheffield Utd’s promising four-match winning streak came to an abrupt end away at Swansea City last weekend when The Blades lost 1-0 at the Liberty Stadium, which has resulted in Sheffield United dropping down to fourth spot.
United now trail their hosts, Norwich City, by a three point margin but a win in East Anglia today would see Chris Wilder’s side back in the frame for possible automatic promotion. Recent wins over Derby County, Blackburn Rovers, Wigan Athletic and QPR have heloed maintain The Blades’ promotion push.
However, three of these recent four wins were achieved at Bramall Lane while results away from home haven’t always been consistent for the visitors throughout this campaign; an away record of 7-2-5 22/16 doesn’t necessarily guarantee the points here despite wins at Brentford, Reading and Wigan Athletic in recent times.
With all due respect, the three aforementioned wins were against teams situated in the lower reaches of the Championship while their two away matches against top six opposition to date have ended in a 3-0 defeat at Middlesbrough and a 2-1 loss at Derby County.
Manager, Chris Wilder, will be hoping his strike pair of David McGoldrick (10 goals) and Billy Sharp (16 goals) can help his side to a precious three points in this clash, while forward Gary Madine will have to bide his time on the bench.
It’s a massive game for both clubs but Norwich City should just shade this one with a noisy Carrow Road crowd behind them here.