Norwich City welcome Tottenham Hotspur to Carrow Road on Tuesday night with the aim of stopping a run of four consecutive defeats in all competitions. The Canaries haven’t won since an Alex Tettey goal was enough to beat Southampton at the start of the year and languish dangerously in 17th place, just two points above the relegation zone. In contrast, Spurs are on a four match win streak and find themselves in 4th place in the table and only two points off second.
Despite Norwich’s recent poor form, there is reason for Canary fans to be optimistic. Norwich were unfortunate to not take at least a point, if not all three against Liverpool last weekend when they surrendered a 3-1 lead and let slip a 4-4 draw in stoppage time thanks to Adam Lallana’s dramatic late winner to let Liverpool leave Norfolk with a fortunate 5-4 win. However, the encouraging debuts of Steven Naismith and Ivo Pinto were an encouragement and with further possible debuts for Timm Klose and Patrick Bamford plus whoever else manager Alex Neil may sign before tomorrow’s deadline means it’s not all bad news for Norwich fans.
However, Tottenham’s visit will be no easy task for the Norfolk side. Norwich were easily cast aside in the corresponding fixture on Boxing Day and Spurs were able to overcome the Canaries with minimum fuss. It would have been more than just three for the London side but for the heroics of City keeper Declan Rudd who pulled off a number of terrific saves to prevent Tottenham from scoring more goals.
But that early season encounter bucked a trend that usually resulted in close matches between the two clubs. Norwich won one match against Spurs with a 2-1 win in the Capital One Cup and drawing the other two matches 1-1 in the 2012/2013 season. The Canaries also won one of the two games against Tottenham in their doomed relegation season under Chris Hughton when a Robert Snodgrass goal was enough to secure a rare win. An Elliot Bennett goal was enough to send Canary fans home happy when Norwich stole victory at White Hart Lane in April 2012 under Paul Lambert in their maiden season back in the Premier League. With good form in recent years against the North London side and many of the current players playing a part in those wins, there is no reason why Norwich can’t spring an upset and derail Tottenham’s title ambitions.
Neil’s side go into the match with an almost full squad to choose from. Midfielder Gary O’Neil will serve the final match of his three-game suspension having picked up a red card in the defeat to Stoke, however, Norwich have no injury concerns to worry about but it remains to be seen whether Timm Klose is deemed up to the match fitness required to make his debut. Whereas the visitors have Jan Vertonghen and Ryan Mason both ruled out with injuries and will make the trip to Carrow Road without them.
