After an international break that had us all crying out for some Canary football, it is back! Norwich will head down to the South Coast to battle former manager Chris Hughton and his Brighton side. Here are five things to look out for in this special Friday kick-off.
1. Low scoring affair
Brighton have only conceded seven goals in their last ten matches, and three of those were on one particularly bad day vs. Blackburn. It is a typical, boring Chris Hughton team. Grinding out results with a solid defence while playing boring football. Brighton have conceded the same number of goals this season as Watford, who are currently in the automatic promotion places, and six goals fewer than a Brentford side who are just a point off the playoffs. I expect a difficult game, and we will have to be fully up to it if we will be able to break down the Brighton defence.
2. Wide areas
It is no secret that Brighton are not exactly stocked with attacking talent. This had led to a simple strategy by whoever has been in charge this season. Cross and shoot. Of the three goals Brighton scored against us, one was a header from the cross, and the other two were moves that started on the left and right edge of the penalty area respectively. They also concede a lot from these positions, with two out of the three goals we scored against them starting from corner kicks. That is not a one off, it has happened a lot this season. We are going to need big games from Martin Olsson and Steven Whittaker in defence, and I think Nathan Redmond will score if he starts.
3. Brighton tackling
The Seagulls are not afraid to put their foot into the ball. They have 73 bookings this season, and five different players have been sent off. They are tied for 2nd in the entire division in both yellow and red cards. Part of this is that earlier in the season they were desperate for points, and had to do anything to keep the ball out of their own net, but it is still a lot of bookings. If possible, we need to avoid getting into a physical game with them where they can outmuscle us. Let’s try to use our pace and run at them, causing them to make one of those tackles they do all too much. That can force the ref to hand out a red card, and we are in business.
4. Killing the game off early
I’m sure most Norwich fans (myself included) do not care how we win, as long as we take all three points. However, we do have a quick turnaround when Sheffield Wednesday come to Carrow Road on Monday. Some other congested matches on the fixture list coming up brings our tally to five matches in the span of two weeks. Don’t you just love the fixture makers? An easy match against arguably the weakest team we will face in this two week run would be very ideal. The less energy that we extend in this match the better. I think that Alex Neil is the type of manager that is thinking ahead to that, and will encourage the players to kill this game off as soon as possible.
5. Upset alert
As I said in the last section, Brighton are probably the weakest team on paper that we are going to face in the next two weeks – don’t tell them that. The Seagulls have the third highest attendance in the Championship, and a very passionate fan base that make life difficult for visiting teams at the AMEX Stadium. Brighton have a 4-1-2 record at home since Chris Hughton took over at the turn of the year, and that includes impressive wins over promotion candidates Ipswich and Derby. In a large way, the home form is what has kept Brighton in this position to be all but safe for another season of Championship football. They may lack a lot of quality, but they are a dangerous team at home that we cannot overlook.
Those are my five things to look out for, did I miss anything? Leave a comment below about what you expect from the Brighton match. It is sure to be a massive game on the South coast. OTBC!
