Separated by just one point in the hunt for top-six places in the Championship table, Norwich City and Sheffield Wednesday will meet in an important contest at Carrow Road on Tuesday.
The visitors arguably kept their slim playoff hopes alive with a dominant away win at the weekend, while their hosts climbed to 10th spot with a draw.
Match preview
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Norwich City are back in action at Carrow Road on Tuesday aiming to make a return to winning ways and reignite their Championship playoff bid, having lost ground in the last month.
Back-to-back wins across late January and early February left the Canaries eighth on 42 points from 30 league outings, and while they have just one of their six games since, they have also added just one more notch to their wins column.
After a pair of draws and a loss to Preston North End, that solitary victory came at home to Stoke City, as Lewis Dobbin opened the scoring and Joshua Sargent netted abrace alongside a Junior Tchamadeu own goal in a 4-2 triumph at Carrow Road.
Then on the back of a 1-1 draw away at fellow playoff-chasers Blackburn Rovers, having been pegged back by an injury-time leveller from Andreas Weimann, Johannes Hoff Thorup‘s side most recently hosted Oxford United and had to settle for another share of the spoils, as Mark Harris cancelled out Sargent’s early opener.
While that result did see the Canaries climb back to 10th spot in England’s second tier, they now find themselves six points behind sixth-placed West Bromwich Albion with 10 games remaining and will hope to begin narrowing that gap on Tuesday.
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Their visitors, meanwhile, head to Norfolk aiming to leapfrog the hosts with a second straight victory after a crucial result at the weekend.
Following a pleasing first half to their first full season under the management of Danny Rohl, Sheffield Wednesday headed into Saturday’s trip to Plymouth Argyle with any playoff hopes having dwindled in the new year.
Indeed, after earning 41 points from their first 29 league outings, the Owls won just once in a six-game span beginning at the start of February, culminating in three straight defeats at the hands of Coventry City, Burnley and Sunderland.
A trip to basement side Plymouth then followed at the weekend, and Rohl’s men managed to bounce back in style, dishing out a 3-0 beating at Home Park as Callum Paterson and Djeidi Gassama got on the scoresheet after a Nathanael Ogbeta own goal had them ahead inside 15 minutes.
Now sitting within one point of the 10th-placed Canaries and within seven of sixth spot, Sheffield Wednesday will be desperate to make it consecutive victories in Tuesday’s trip before meeting rivals Sheffield United on Sunday.
Team News
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Norwich City continue to deal with an unenviable injury list heading into Tuesday’s meeting, with first-choice goalkeeper Angus Gunn sidelined alongside Ben Chrisene, Lucien Mahovo, Liam Gibbs, Amankwah Forson, Marcelino Nunez, Lewis Dobbin and Matej Jurasek.
Fellow goalkeeper George Long also missed Friday’s game following a concussion, meaning Vicente Reyes may again have to deputise between the sticks, while Keny McLean should return to the midfield from the outset after a substitute appearance against Oxford following his own injury layoff.
Joshua Sargent will lead the line with confidence, having scored eight goals in the Canaries’ last eight Championship outings, while winger Borja Sainz still sits joint-top of the Championship scoring charts despite failing to get on the scoresheet since November.
Sheffield Wednesday are still hit by several injuries of their own, as defenders Di’Shon Bernard, Akin Famewo and Yan Valery remain out of action alongside midfielder Stuart Armstrong and attacker Anthony Musaba.
Dominic Iorfa did return to the back four from the start at the weekend after his own long injury layoff, while Max Lowe was deemed fit to start in the centre after being forced off in their defeat to Sunderland, and they should again join Ryo Hatsuse and Michael Ihiekwe in a back four after Saturday’s clean sheet.
Rohl may field an unchanged starting XI, with Svante Ingelsson continuing to join Barry Bannan and Shea Charles in midfield and Callum Paterson again hoping to get the nod in attack alongside key men Josh Windass and Djeidi Gassama, having scored four goals in his last six league appearances.
Norwich City possible starting lineup:
Reyes; Fisher, Cordoba, Doyle, Stacey; Sorensen, McLean; Crnac, Marcondes, Sainz; Sargent
Sheffield Wednesday possible starting lineup:
Beadle; Iorfa, Ihiekwe, Lowe, Hatsuse; Ingelsson, Charles; Paterson, Bannan, Gassama; Windass
We say: Norwich City 1-1 Sheffield Wednesday
Boosted by a crucial return to winning ways at the weekend, we see Sheffield Wednesday having enough to take a share of the spoils at Carrow Road against an out-of-sorts Norwich side, albeit with a draw not benefitting either team’s top-six bid.
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