Norwich vs Sunderland: Preview and Prediction

It is a battle for survival when Norwich host Sunderland in Saturday’s English Premier League opener at Carrow Road.

The Canaries were defeated by Crystal Palace in the previous fixture and are 17th in the league table and 4 points ahead of the 18th placed Sunderland. The pressure is really big on Sunderland who are without a win in their last six matches and Norwich will be hoping to pile further misery on the visitors on Saturday.

Norwich Form Guide:

Norwich’s three match unbeaten run came to an end with the 1-0 defeat at Crystal Palace last weekend. The form in their last 5 matches read 2 wins, 1 draw and 2 loss.
At home, the Canaries remain with one win in their last 6 league matches, the rest being 2 draws and 3 defeats. Five out of those six games have seen over 2.5 goals.

Sunderland Form Guide:

The Black Cats are win-less in their last 6 Premier League matches, with 4 draws and 2 defeats. They have failed to find the back of the net in their last two games. Moreover they have just 1 win from their last 11 league matches.

Sunderland are a poor side away from home all season and won just twice so far from 16 matches in Premier League, with 10 of those being defeats. They are coming on the back of consecutive draws away from home.

Norwich City: Team News

Alexander Tettey is the only confirmed injured player for Alex Neil’s side, but the head coach is hopeful on the fitness of Timm Klose and Russell Martin, who will be assessed closely towards the kick-off.

Predicted Line-up (4-4-1-1)

Ruddy
Olsson, Klose, Bennet, Wisdon
Brady, Howson, O’Neil, Jarvis
Naismith
Mbokani

Sunderland: Team News

Sam Allardyce will be without the injured Duncan Watmore and other than this he has a fully fit squad at his disposal in the trip to Norwich.

Predicted Line-up (4-1-4-1)

Manone
Yedlin, Kone, Kaboul, Aanhold
Kirchfoff
Borini, Cattermole, M’Villa, Khazri
Defoe

Norwich vs Sunderland: Head-to-Head Stats

Norwich are unbeaten in the last 5 games against Sunderland with 3 wins and 2 draws. The Canaries have also won in the last two meetings with the sides.

Sunderland’s last win against Norwich was on February 2012 at their home ground.
Norwich have all of their last three Premier League home matches against Sunderland.

Norwich vs Sunderland: Prediction

Norwich have managed to take some important wins from their last five fixture, while Sunderland is still without a win in their last six, though four of those were draws. Big Sam’s legacy of saving teams from relegation will be at a big threat if they lose this match.

With Arsenal and Manchester United to come up-next Alex Neil will be preparing his team to take all three points against Sunderland. At home, they are very likely to score, while Sunderland’s woes in the last few games lies in their attacking department. Despite creating chances the Black Cats failed to score in both of their previous two matches.

We could see a narrow Norwich City win on Saturday and it is very likely to end in a 1-0 or 2-0. I hardly expect Sunderland to score, taking both teams to score out of the equation.