After climbing off the foot of the Championship table at the weekend, Sheffield Wednesday will aim to make it three victories on the bounce on Wednesday when they travel to Carrow Road to take on Norwich City.
The Owls leapfrogged Rotherham United but remain eight points adrift of safety, while their hosts sit 13th after a goalless draw at the weekend.
Match preview
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Norwich City return to Carrow Road in midweek aiming to make a return to winning ways in the midst of a difficult start to the Championship campaign under David Wagner, despite enjoying an uptick in results around the November international break.
From their 20 matches in England's second tier so far this term, the Canaries have earned 27 points, managing eight victories while suffering nine defeats, with a poor spell between early October and the beginning of November as they were beaten five times alongside a single draw with Coventry City in a six-game span, falling away from the playoff places as a result.
David Wagner's side were, at least, able to return to winning ways before the recent break, scraping through with a 3-2 victory in a trip to Cardiff City, before returning to action with a narrow 1-0 triumph at home to strugglers Queens Park Rangers.
A trip to Watford followed and the Canaries suffered a 3-2 defeat, before bouncing back with a 2-1 triumph away at Bristol City at the beginning of December, thanks to Adam Idah's 95th-minute winner following George Tanner's own goal to level the game, and they now head into Wednesday's match on the back of a goalless draw at home to a struggling Preston North End on Saturday.
While their record shows three victories in the last five Championship outings, Norwich are certainly not in convincing form under Wagner, and with pressure growing but still just a three-point gap up to the playoff spots, they will be keen to bounce back on Wednesday and put an improved run together.
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In their way stand a Sheffield Wednesday side in an increasingly upwards trajectory, with the visitors having climbed off the bottom of the division for the first time since mid-September.
Following a dismal start to the second-tier campaign on their return to the Championship, initially under Xisco Munoz before Danny Rohl took the reins at Hillsborough, the Owls headed into the last international break rooted to the foot of the division with just six points on the board from 16 outings having only managed one victory.
While they also suffered a defeat on their return to action away at Birmingham City last month, Rohl's side have since appeared to turn a corner and quickly doubled their points tally in the last three outings, firstly holding league leaders Leicester City to a 1-1 draw at Hillsborough thanks to Jeff Hendrick's injury-time leveller, before playing host to Blackburn Rovers and scoring a second win of the season as Bailey Cadamarteri, Marvin Johnson and Josh Windass got on the scoresheet in a 3-1 triumph.
Aiming to build on those positive results, the Owls most recently travelled to take on a struggling Stoke City side on Saturday, and after the game looked set to end goalless, thanks in no small part to Cameron Dawson's penalty save in the second half, the South Yorkshire outfit were able to snatch all three points as Anthony Musaba broke the deadlock in the 91st minute.
Such a result saw Sheffield Wednesday climb up to 23rd spot having moved onto 13 points, and while they remain eight adrift of safety given the improvements of their fellow strugglers, the Owls finally have a degree of momentum on their side and will aim to record a third straight three-point haul on Wednesday in their bid to reduce the deficit at the bottom of the division.
Team News
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Norwich City will continue to deal with several injuries on Wednesday, as defenders Grant Hanley, Ben Gibson and Jacob Sorensen are out of action while forwards Joshua Sargent and Hwang Ui-jo also remain confined to the treatment room.
David Wagner may opt to make several changes from the weekend's stalemate with Preston North End, with Jon Rowe likely to return from the start on the left wing in a 4-2-3-1 shape, having netted a team-high tally of seven Championship goals so far this term, while Adam Idah should again lead the line in the absence of Hwang and Sargent.
He will have support from Ashley Barnes, while Liam Gibbs will hope to displace Marcelino Nunez and join star man Gabriel Sara in the engine room, with Kenny McLean again expected to get the nod over Danny Batth and operate in a makeshift role alongside Shane Duffy at the heart of the back four after their clean sheet on Saturday.
Danny Rohl may opt to deploy an unchanged Sheffield Wednesday starting XI on Wednesday after their 1-0 victory last time out, with key defender Dominic Iorfa set to remain sidelined alongside Momo Diaby and Mallik Wilks.
There is competition, though, with Anthony Musaba fighting to earn a start in the attack after netting the decisive goal off the bench against Stoke, and he may take up a wing role in support of 18-year-old forward Bailey Cadamarteri, who will hope to again get the nod to lead the line after netting his first Championship goal in their triumph over Blackburn Rovers.
Elsewhere, Will Vaulks should again join George Byers and Barry Bannan in the engine room, while Di'Shon Bernard and Bambo Diaby will continue to partner up in the middle of the defence with Liam Palmer set to remain on the right-hand side in Iorfa's likely absence.
Norwich City possible starting lineup:
Gunn; Stacey, Duffy, McLean, Giannoulis; Sara, Gibbs; Fassnacht, Barnes, Rowe; Idah
Sheffield Wednesday possible starting lineup:
Dawson; Palmer, Diaby, Bernard, Famewo; Byers, Vaulks, Bannan; Windass, Cadamarteri, Musaba
We say: Norwich City 1-2 Sheffield Wednesday
While Norwich City should fancy themselves to get past the division's 23rd-placed side at Carrow Road, they are lacking any momentum under Wagner this season, while the Owls travel to Norfolk with a renewed sense of confidence and optimism.
On the back of their first consecutive wins of the season, we would not be surprised to see Rohl's men pull off somewhat of an upset on Wednesday and make it three on the bounce as they aim to cut the gap to safety.
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Top tip
Sam Varley
