Tuesday evening will see the Canaries undertake one of their longest journeys this campaign as they’re set to travel 220 miles to the Riverside Stadium to face Aitor Karanka’s Middlesbrough side which currently sit joint second in the table, having not lost in their last 10 games. For most Norwich fans (myself included) the resurgence of this north Yorkshire side went unnoticed up until this fixture, but with the top of the table having been so constricted since the opening day, the Carrow Road faithful would be forgiven for not taking their eyes from this area. Boro have amassed 11 points from their last 6 games whereas Norwich have struggled recently, acquiring only 6. Tuesday’s opponents have proved a formidable force thus far under the ex-Real Madrid assistant manager and this encounter promises to be one of our toughest challenges to date.
Regarding team news, it’s likely that ex-Canary, Daniel Ayala will start against us – a player who I was always fond of but he never really hit the heights in the yellow and green. That said, he’s far from the main threat in the opposition side with players such as Grant Leadbitter and Max Clayton holding down the centre of the park, while the on loan Chelsea youth prospect, Patrick Bamford looks likely to start up front. On the flipside, the Canaries will go into this game with an equally strong side (despite a number of salient injuries) while also being buoyed by their Halloween win against Bolton in their last outing. Looking at our injuries before the lads’ next run out, Norwich will be without Mark Bunn, Ryan Bennett, Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe and Wes Hoolahan – all of which also missed the Bolton game. With that taken into consideration, the starting XI I’d select would look something akin to the following:
My starting XI:
Looking back on the Bolton game, I was pleased with the performance on the whole – especially Whittaker’s, but I can’t include him in my side on principle. Because of that I’ve opted for Martin at RB with Miquel coming in at the then vacant CB spot ahead of both Cuellar and Hooiveld. O’Neil has proven somewhat of a surprise package since setting foot on the pitch a few matches ago and, without exaggeration, has been near flawless since then; therefore he retains his place in the squad alongside Tettey. Redmond is a sure starter after what was hailed by many as ‘his best performance in a Norwich shirt’ last time out, and so retains his place on the opposite wing to Jerome, with Howson playing in the whole and Lafferty ahead of him. I much prefer Lafferty as a target man up top than on the wing and so I’ve pushed Jerome wide where I feel he can still put in a shift.
Verdict:
As previously mentioned, I’m expecting this to be a particularly tough fixture – two sides having a strong midfield and solid defences which would be generally indicative of a tight score line. That’s something which I struggle to argue with and am therefore predicting a 1-1 draw, although a win for the Canaries here would do us a world of good going into our Nottingham Forest fixture just a few days after this one.
