Sky Bet Championship promotion contenders, Norwich City and Brentford meet at Carrow Road in Wednesday’s blockbuster clash.
Victory will see Norwich move ten points clear of second-placed Brentford, whilst Thomas Frank’s Bees can reduce the gap to four points with a win.
Team News
Todd Cantwell is ruled out for Norwich for a second consecutive match with a calf injury.
Orjan Nyland (back), Marco Stiepermann (illness), Michael McGovern and Sam Byram (both hamstring) remain ruled out.
Brentford have no fresh injury concerns to report after Saturday’s comeback win at home to Stoke.
Pontus Jansson (ankle), Luka Racic (back), Rico Henry (hamstring) and Shandon Baptiste (knee) remain absent.
Stat Attack
- Norwich have lost just one of their last seven Championship meetings against Brentford (W3, D3, L1).
- Brentford have won just two of their last five trips to Carrow Road (W2, L3), with both wins coming via 2-1 results and failed to score in their three recent defeats.
- Teemu Pukki has scored seven goals in his last five appearances for Norwich.
Prediction
Norwich will be relieved to come through a tricky away test at Wycombe on Sunday with a clean sheet despite being without Cantwell, because they dominated comfortably but impressive defending meant that only five of their 19 shots were turned on target but Pukki seems to have found his quality again.
Brentford meanwhile have just regained their focus with consecutive wins after a brief blip but they cannot afford another messy start because Norwich won’t be easy opposition to back on level footing with unlike Stoke on Saturday.
First goal therefore is going to be crucial because if Norwich get it then I can see them winning, otherwise this could be quite intriguing if Brentford score first given the quality of both teams so am punting for a score draw.
Prediction: Norwich 1-1 Brentford
Result: Norwich 1-0 Brentford