Already-relegated Norwich City play host to top-seven chasing West Ham at Carrow Road.
Victory would see already relegated Norwich climb off the foot of the table into 19th position, whereas West Ham can stay seventh with a win and move to within three points of sixth-placed Manchester United.
Team News
Christoph Zimmerman remains absent for Norwich as he continues to recover from a groin injury.
Ozan Kabak (hamstring) is a doubt but Kenny McLean (toe), Josh Sargent (ankle), Andrew Omobamidele (back) and Adam Idah (knee) are ruled out for rest of season.
West Ham have no fresh injury concerns to report following Thursday’s Europa League exit at Eintracht Frankfurt, as Angelo Ogbonna remains their only long-term absentee with a knee injury.
Stat Attack
- Norwich are winless in their last six meetings against West Ham (D2, L4).
- West Ham have won just one of their six previous Premier League visits to Carrow Road (W1, D3, L2).
- Norwich have conceded eight goals in their last three meetings against West Ham without scoring.
- Only Scunthorpe United (-61) have a worse goal difference than Norwich (-49) in England’s top four football divisions.
- David Moyes’ Hammers have scored just one goal in their last four league matches on the road (L4).
Prediction
With relegation now confirmed, Norwich have no pressure on them coming into this match so it will be interesting to see if Dean Smith approaches this game as an experimentation opportunity, or if he will stick with his style.
His Canaries though lacked spark in attack in their defeat at Aston Villa last weekend but they did defend well for much of the game, where two mistakes proved costly but this is a chance to bounce back and rebuild ready for next season back in the Championship.
West Ham meanwhile seem to have hit a slump at the worst possible period of the season but they did well to match Frankfurt for much of Thursday’s defeat despite down to 10 men, yet just lacked the final touch so I do expect them to come out and try to deliver a strong reaction here.
I however can see Norwich trying to make life as hard as possible for the Hammers but if the visitors aren’t mentally drained, I expect them to snatch a routine win if they can sort out their finishing.
Prediction: Norwich City 0-2 West Ham
Result: Norwich City 0-4 West Ham
Leave a Reply