Tuesday evening’s away clash with Huddersfield town will be played still somewhat in the aftermath of the Canaries’ previous result, a 1-1 home draw with fellow promotion contenders, Derby County. It was a result which met a conflicting reception from the Canary contingent, with many fans feeling that taking a point from a side of the Ram’s magnitude was an achievement in itself, whilst others viewing it as two points dropping in what is a massively snug title race at present.
On paper, the Terriers shouldn’t prove such a competitive adversary – having gleaned only one point from their last four matches, the Yorkshire club sit in 18th position but seem all but safe from the drop with 43 points. For the Yellows, a win is crucial; primarily to stay in the promotion pursuit but also to maintain momentum ahead of their rapidly arriving matchup with Nottingham Forrest on Saturday. In football, like any sport, it’s important to take nothing for granted – but both the overwhelming majority of Norwich fans and I will be demanding three points here. We’re without any new injuries or suspensions from our previous outing and Alex Neil seems to have put a “It’s all about winning matches” focus on the side for the rest of the season – something which would seem a given, yet cast your mind back to the Hughton era and even certain times under Adams; quotes like this should be embraced as a blessing.
In terms of tactics and personnel for this encounter, I doubt things will deviate far from the setup Neil employed against Derby which worked consistently well throughout much of the 90 minutes with the exception of a moment of madness for the opposition goal. In light of this, I’d prefer a line up something along these lines and I imagine Neil will broadly share the same vision:
Preferred line up
Similar to what I wrote in my Derby preview, I feel we’re at a stage in the season now where we know (more or less) what our strongest starting XI is and I’d argue that the one depicted above comes pretty close. Obviously the most salient absentee in this example being Tettey, but it’d make sense to rest him for a low-profile midweek game such as this dues to his knee which some have rumoured to be crafted from a blend of matchsticks, eggshells and Pringles… Aside from that, we may see Redmond demoted to the bench where he’s spent much of his time of late in favour of Hoolahan – whilst it also wouldn’t surprise me if substitute cameos are given to the likes of Tony Andreu and Carlton Morris. I’d also love to see a properly impressive performance from Dorrans in this match, every time I’ve seen him he’s been solid with hints of real technical flair; he just doesn’t seem to channel that into an incisive, defence cleaving through ball as much as I’d like.
Verdict
I always attempt to keep my verdicts in these previews as short as possible and this one is no different. We’re on a good run of form and the home side very much aren’t. On paper we should sweep them aside comfortably, but we said that about Wigan too… Regardless, I’ve got my fingers crossed for a 4-0 victory; something about this match just has me feeling very confident.
