The 30th round in the Premier League starts on Friday-evening. Starting with a duel on Carrow Road. In East England Norwich City receives a visit from Southampton. The bottom line may use a good result, but the same goes for Southampton, which is a step closer to enforcement with a good result.
Norwich City:
It’s on or under for Norwich City. The doctoral candidate is in twentieth place in the Premier League and will need a miracle in the coming weeks not to be relegated to the Championship. Norwich has 21 points after 29 games, which is already five points less than Aston Villa, which is nineteenth. The gap in the safe seventeenth place is six points to the disadvantage of Norwich City. The formation of Daniel Farke must therefore start in the last nine rounds of the Premier League.
With Southampton at home, a game is scheduled for Norwich City on Friday evening that offers perspective. Southampton is a number of places higher than Norwich, but The Canaries have no chance. Just before the corona break, Norwich City lost 1-0 to fellow PhD candidate Sheffield United. A week earlier, The Canaries managed to book a handsome 1-0 league victory at Leicester City. That happened in-house with home crowd. Supporters are missing against Southampton. In the case of a relegation candidate such as Norwich City, this can actually only be disadvantageous.
The long corona stop has allowed some Norwich City players to recover from their injuries. Grant Hanley sustained a hamstring injury last Friday in Norwich’s friendly game with Totteham Hotspur (2-1 win) last Friday and is likely to miss the rest of the league. Last week it was also revealed that a Norwich player tested positive for the corona virus. The club has not brought out which player it is, but the duel with Southampton must therefore pass this player by.
Southampton:
Southampton has thirteen points more than Norwich City. That means The Canaries have a seven-point lead in the first relegation spot. A lead that Southampton is unlikely to give away anymore. The Saints are neatly in fourteenth place and Ralph Hasenhüttl, who extended his contract for three years this month, cannot be dissatisfied. Last season, Southampton battled relegation to the last breath. This season Southampton seems to have a lot less to worry about. Under Hasenhüttl Southampton plays reasonable football and it also achieves excellent results.
In the last six games Southampton played before the break, it lost five. Now The Saints have not played football for so long that there is no real form anymore. If all Southampton players are in normal shape and reach their level, Southampton is the favorite for this game on Carrow Road. Moussa Djenepo has not traveled to Norwich with The Saints, as he has been suspended for Friday-evening’s game. Club top scorer Shane Long, who signed a new contract just like his trainer this month, will be training with Southampton again. Long suffers from some muscle problems and is therefore a doubt. It looks like Southampton wants to take a risk with his top scorer and that Long will not start in the starting team on Friday evening.
