Norwich City welcome Stoke to Carrow Road this Saturday with the aim of securing back-to-back wins following last weekend’s 3-1 demolition of Sunderland. However, Norwich can expect that the side Mark Hughes brings to Norfolk will provide the sternest test of the season and will be going all out to ensure their first three points of the campaign. Stoke have recruited well over the summer and following the high-profile acquisition of Xherdan Shaqiri from Inter Milan – the Potters are well equipped to fire on all cylinders this season. Their squad now contains five Champions League winners with Marko Arnuatovic, Ibrahim Affelay, Bojan Krkic and Marc Muniesa joining Shaqiri as having won Europe’s elite competition, which is more than Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal combined!
But, Alex Neil will be well aware of the quality Stoke possess and how his Norwich City side intend to counter it. A lot of the mainstream media was full of criticism of how poor Sunderland were against Norwich last weekend. However rather unsurprisingly, what they failed to mention was how well Norwich played and how they managed to exploit the weak Sunderland back line and how their passing moves for Steven Whittaker and Nathan Redmond’s goals would make Barcelona proud. With the Canaries striker search continuing to prove futile, Cameron Jerome is expected to lead the line this weekend and faces another one of his former sides at Carrow Road following his appearance against Crystal Palace on the opening day.
Stoke narrowly lost to a late Liverpool goal in their first game of the season and fought back from 2-0 down to rescue a point against Tottenham last weekend so will see this game as the ideal opportunity to kick-start their season. Hughes has brought in as many as eight new players to the Britianna stadium and are no longer considered the ‘hoof’ ball rugby side they once were under Tony Pulis. They have transformed from that ugly caterpillar into an amazing butterfly since Mark Hughes took charge and brought in top quality players as well as implementing a more attractive style of football. Should Norwich get a result against Stoke City on Saturday, it may just prove to the many doubters that the Canaries can cut it in the Premier League and have genuine survival aspirations.
