Both aiming to put an end to their respective winless streaks, Norwich City welcome an out-of-form Birmingham City side to Carrow Road on Saturday afternoon in the Championship.
The Canaries were demolished in the league last Saturday before exiting the EFL Cup in the week, whereas Blues have had eight days to mull over a goalless draw with Queens Park Rangers last time out.
Match preview
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After back-to-back away defeats over the past week, Norwich return to their East Anglian home this weekend, and it has certainly been a couple of days to forget for those of a yellow and green persuasion following a promising start to the campaign under former Huddersfield Town boss David Wagner.
Last weekend saw the Canaries hit for six at Home Park by Plymouth Argyle during their disastrous trip to Devon, as ex-Swansea City attacker Morgan Whittaker scored a hat-trick inside 60 minutes, with Dan Scarr, Finn Azaz and Luke Cundle also getting involved in the goalscoring action.
After navigating EFL Cup clashes at fellow second-tier clubs QPR and Bristol City in the early rounds, an outing at Craven Cottage against Premier League Fulham awaited Wagner's men, who managed to make the net ripple in West London courtesy of Borja Sainz, but Carlos Vinicius and Alex Iwobi had scored earlier in the third-round contest for Marco Silva's charges.
A four-game unbeaten run at the beginning of the term sent a strong message out to the rest of the Championship that Norwich still have the potential to be a big player at this level, although successive losses to Leicester City and Argyle in the league most recently heavily suggests that this current crop will not canter to promotion as Teemu Pukki and company did on two occasions.
The Canaries sit eighth in the league standings after collecting 13 points from their opening eight matches - a respectable tally - although the blistering early-season form of Enzo Maresca's men and newly-promoted Ipswich Town means Saturday's hosts are already eight points adrift of the top two.
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Since Jay Stansfield marked his Birmingham City debut with a thunderous 95th-minute winner against Plymouth on August 26, Blues have gone five games without tasting victory, including a 3-1 loss to Cardiff City in the second round of the EFL Cup - a competition the club won in 2011 under the stewardship of Alex McLeish.
Home draws with Millwall and Queens Park Rangers have been sandwiched by away losses at Watford and high-flying Preston North End, and although John Eustace's side have not disgraced themselves in any of those quartet of fixtures, there is a consensus that there is considerable room for improvement as a new-look squad continues to gel.
A Friday night showdown with Gareth Ainsworth's R's can be summarised by the impressive work of the two goalkeepers present at St Andrew's that day, with John Ruddy and Asmir Begovic both pulling off remarkable stops to keep the contest level until the final whistle.
Blues now face another flurry of matches before the second international break of the season, with Saturday's trip to Carrow Road being closely followed by home clashes against Huddersfield Town and local rivals West Bromwich Albion next Friday - a game in which Birmingham may enter as favourites for the first time in arguably a decade.
Sitting 10th in the Championship standings after eight matches of the term, Blues will be pleased with their business so far but a tricky trio of fixtures this week - coupled with an ever-growing injury list - could put a temporary end to the visitors' top-half position.
Team News
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Norwich are expected to make a host of changes to the XI which was humiliated at Plymouth last time out in the Championship, meaning the likes of Hwang Ui-Jo and Christian Fassnacht should drop to the bench.
Spaniard Sainz impressed at Craven Cottage as he bagged a goal on his debut for the Canaries, and Wagner could hand the attacker his maiden Championship start in support of Adam Idah, who scored a brace at Home Park last weekend.
Jonathan Rowe has not found the net in four matches after scoring in four-straight games at the beginning of the second-tier term - the academy graduate will be key if the hosts are to return to their August form.
Wagner's men have some notable names in their medical room, with Grant Hanley (Achilles), Josh Sargent (ligament) and Chilean Marcelino Nunez (ankle) all sidelined until after the international break.
Birmingham's injury crisis has worsened since the draw against QPR, with first-choice left-back Lee Buchanan rolling his ankle in training on Monday, and the former Werder Bremen man is now set to miss over a month of action.
Despite not providing the same level of defensive assurance, Emmanuel Longelo will be a capable deputy while Buchanan begins his rehabilitation, with Kevin Long and Dion Sanderson set to start as the centre-back partnership for Blues, keeping Emanuel Aiwu to a watching brief once again.
Keshi Anderson was forced off in the first half last time out with a hamstring strain, and Eustace has since revealed that the winger could be sidelined for up to eight weeks, meaning the likes of Siriki Dembele and Oliver Burke will be seeing plenty of the pitch as the second-tier season picks up pace.
The Blues boss has a decision to make on whether to play Scott Hogan at Carrow Road - a move which would shift three-goal man Stansfield into an attacking-midfield role, despite him being arguably the club's most natural finisher.
Norwich City possible starting lineup:
Gunn; Stacey, Duffy, Gibson, Giannoulis; Sara, McLean; Hernandez, Gibbs, Sainz; Idah
Birmingham City possible starting lineup:
Ruddy; Drameh, Sanderson, Long, Longelo; Bielik, Sunjic, Burke, Miyoshi, Dembele; Stansfield
We say: Norwich City 1-1 Birmingham City
Norwich produced a promising performance at Craven Cottage despite bowing out of the EFL Cup, but the Canaries will still need to start brightly on Saturday to erase memories of their capitulation against Plymouth last weekend.
Birmingham face three matches in the space of seven days as they battle with an ongoing injury crisis, although with a week's break under their belts, Eustace's men should be able to collect a point on Saturday.
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Top tip
Carter White
