After two disasterous performances against Newcastle and West Brom in the Premier league, Norwich travel to Everton with a chance of progression in the Capital One cup and a chance to boost morale of players and fans ahead of the dreaded visit to Manchester City.
A win on Tuesday night could be a much-needed confidence boost, with Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal looming. It could make everyone connected with the club realise that they can beat big Premier League scalps such as Everton, and victory would take us two wins away from Wembley, the ground we enjoyed a historic play-off final win at last season.
Even though the defeats to Newcastle and West Brom has left a bitter taste in the mouth’s of fans and players, dwelling on them could affect our league form and our cup run, as we could potentially find ourselves in the relegation zone by next week. With a place in the Europa League at stake, we need to take the cup seriously I feel.
Norwich’s two previous wins in the Capital One cup this season have been against Rotherham and West Brom, with Norwich being comfortable winners against both. Everton, on the other hand, have made a meal of their two ties against Barnsley and Reading but came out victorious both times. In those games, Everton have conceded the opening goals, so if we go in front at Goodison we need to be resolute at the back in order to prevail.
Tuesday’s tie also allows our fringe players such as Kyle Lafferty and Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe to get crucial, needed gametime. It is also a good opportunity for Youssouf Mulumbu to get match fit and to prove he is worthy of first team selection, after returning from a broken foot injury suffered in pre-season.
A win on Tuesday night will not only put us a step closer to Wembley, but will give us momentum heading into the Manchester City game knowing that we can win against a Premier League team during this current, hopefully short-lived blip.
