Aston Villa welcome relegation battling Norwich City to Villa Park in a huge clash in the fight for Premier League survival.
Victory could see Villa climb as high as 13th in the table, whereas anything less than a win will see Norwich relegated if Burnley defeat Watford elsewhere.
Team News
Morgan Sanson is a doubt for Aston Villa as he recovers from a knock which forced him to miss last weekend’s goalless draw at Leicester.
Lucas Digne (shoulder), Bertrand Traore (groin) and Kortney Hause (abdominal) remain absent.
Norwich could welcome Josh Sargent back from an ankle injury which had kept him out of the Canaries’ last four matches.
Lukas Rupp (knee) is also set to be in contention but Ozan Kabak (hamstring), Andrew Omobamidele (back) and Adam Idah (knee) are ruled out.
Stat Attack
- Aston Villa have lost just one of their last nine Premier League meetings against Norwich (W7, D1, L1).
- Norwich are winless in their last eight Premier League visits to Villa Park (D3, L5).
- Villa are looking to win four consecutive league matches against Norwich for the very first time.
- No Villa player have had more touches on the ball than Matty Cash this season, with the Polish international achieving 1,845 touches in 32 league appearances.
- Norwich goalkeeper, Tim Krul has made two errors this season which led to the Canaries conceding goals.
Prediction
Although a goalless draw at Leicester might seem disappointing, Villa can take plenty of confidence from their attacking front-foot quality because only inaccurate finishing let them down, so their aim surely has to be to build on the positives and just finish their chances better.
Norwich meanwhile are all but down so the pressure is certainly off them here although Dean Smith’s Canaries need to show more assertation in their finishing and mark their opposition better, especially after how both elements proved costly against Newcastle despite excellent attacking moves.
Villa Park though has been Norwich’s hoodoo and as sad as it would be for Smith’s Canaries to be relegated away at his former team, I just can’t see past a comfortable Villa win if they play like they did last weekend but better.
Prediction: Aston Villa 2-0 Norwich
Result: Aston Villa 2-0 Norwich (Norwich are RELEGATED!!)