With the usually disappointing and pointless international break out of the way, real football returns on Easter Friday with Norwich visiting Chris Hughton’s Brighton at the Amex Stadium. Like a psycho ex-girlfriend, Hughton is unlikely to receive too warm a welcome from the travelling fans; much less so if he manages to trash City’s promotion hopes by grinding out one of his famous 1-0 wins. However, opinions are still divided on the ex-City boss, with the man just too nice for anyone to dislike. Perhaps this trait was one of the reasons why his departure was left far too late – after all, he was brought in to solidify Norwich as a Premier League club, and now we’re in the Championship because of that. The fact of the matter is, he failed as Norwich City manager.
With eight points from their last six games, sitting ten points above the drop zone and comfortable in mid-table, Brighton have virtually nothing to play for. It should be a straight-forward three points for the high-flying Canaries, who are aiming to put pressure on the top three. In fact, a win for Alex Neil’s side – with Middlesborough and Watford dropping points – would put Norwich into the top two. With automatic promotion once a far-distant prospect before Neil’s arrival, City must take care not to let a chance like this slip away – the defeat against Wigan proves just how far dropping points sets you back in the race for the top flight.
Meanwhile, since Hughton’s arrival Brighton have drifted away from any fears of relegation and towards the sanctity of mid-table mediocrity. His predecessor – Sami Hyypia – left after just one win in eighteen games, but now the Seagulls look safe. In fact, such was the distaste at Hyypia’s results, one Brighton fan dropped by our interviews after the return fixture at Carrow Road, which ended 3-3 back in November.
In that game, a Russell Martin wonder-goal put Norwich 2-1 up and into a position where they really should have seen the game out, yet fell behind again and it took a late strike from substitute Gary Hooper to secure a point five minutes from time. Whilst there were murmurings of discontent regarding Norwich’s own dip in form back then, it was two months before Neil Adams was relieved of his duties. This time around, things are very different for both sides. Brighton no longer have fear of relegation, and Norwich are right up there battling for automatic promotion. Both sides have also switched managers since that goal-fest earlier in the season, which as seen a stark rise in fortunes.
All players report back from international duty with no fresh injury concerns – that we know of – so it is likely that the same side that beat Nottingham Forest 3-1 will walk out of the tunnel on Friday. On the other hand, Alex Neil has a tendency to be unpredictable and likes to change his side around, so the inclusion of Nathan Redmond – despite a poor run of form recently – could be a possibility.
On paper, City are clearly better than Brighton. Any lingering displeasure at Chris Hughton will hopefully be put to one side after a comfortable Canaries win, with Jerome and Howson grabbing goals in a 0-2 victory. Hopefully Middlesborough, Bournemouth and Watford slip up so we can sneak into the top two, but keeping the pressure on is pivotal when reaching this stage of the season.
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