Norwich City welcome Watford to Carrow Road as the Sky Bet Championship’s top two teams collide in a blockbuster midweek clash.
Victory would see Norwich move 11 points clear of second-placed Watford and seal the 2020-21 Championship title.
Xisco Munoz’s Hornets however can cut their deficit to Daniel Farke’s Canaries down to five points with a win.
Team News
Dimitris Giannoulis is suspended for Norwich after being red carded in Saturday’s 3-1 defeat against Bournemouth.
Ben Gibson (ankle), Michael McGovern, Christoph Zimmerman, Sam Byram Lukas Rupp (all hamstring) and Adam Idah (hernia) remain absent.
Watford will be without Kiko Femenia after his red card in Saturday’s away loss at Luton.
Nathaniel Chalobah (knock) could return but Troy Deeney (Achilles) and Tom Dele-Bashiru (knee) remain absent.
Stat Attack
- Norwich are unbeaten in three of their last five Championship meetings against Watford (W2, D1, L2).
- Watford have not claimed a draw in their last 11 trips to Carrow Road (W5, L6).
- Emiliano Buendia has scored three goals across three of Norwich’s last five home matches (W2, L1).
- Ismaila Sarr has scored in Watford’s last two away matches, with both of his goals coming before half time.
- Norwich have won their only previous home game refereed by Tony Harrington this season, defeating Rotherham 1-0 in mid February.
Prediction
With both teams coming into this game off the back of defeats at the weekend, I am expecting to see changes here for both teams although Watford really need to minimise their changes more if are to keep their title ambition alive.
Norwich however can take heart from the fact that they looked comfortable against Bournemouth with an early goal, until Giannoulis’ red card allowed Bournemouth to fight back for a strong win in a defensive meltdown for the Canaries.
Watford meanwhile were purely lacklustre to say the least with zero shots on target at Kenilworth Road, although they did defend well for majority of their loss but they will need to attack more if want a result here.
On that note, Watford need to come out and impose themselves quickly on this game given Norwich’s strong home form otherwise they could find themselves chasing the game which might well suit Norwich nicely if they can quickly control this match.
Prediction: Norwich 1-0 Watford
Result: Norwich 0-1 Watford
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