Brighton & Hove Albion will be looking to continue their excellent start to the 2021-22 Premier League season when they head to Carrow Road to face Norwich City on Saturday afternoon.
The Seagulls are currently sixth in the table, picking up 14 points from their opening seven matches, while Norwich sit bottom, having collected just one point from their first seven games of the season.
Match preview
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Norwich have not been able to secure back-to-back seasons of Premier League football since 2012-13 and 2013-14, having dropped straight back into the Championship following their last two promotions.
The Canaries collected 97 points en route to winning last season's Championship, but it has been a similar story in the top flight this term, with just a single point from seven games leaving them bottom of the table.
Daniel Farke's side are the lowest scorers with two, while they have the joint-worst defensive record alongside Newcastle United, having conceded 16 times, which are not exactly statistics that will fill their supporters with too much confidence heading into a vital period of the season.
Norwich's first point of the campaign did arrive away to Burnley before the international break, but a poor result on Saturday would leave them short on confidence ahead of a very tough trip to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea.
The Canaries have only won one of their last four matches against Brighton, meanwhile, and suffered back-to-back defeats to the Seagulls during the 2019-20 Premier League season without scoring a goal.
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Brighton have excelled in England's top flight this term, picking up 14 points from their opening seven matches of the campaign to sit sixth, level on points with fifth-placed Everton, fourth-placed Manchester United and third-placed Manchester City.
The fact that the Seagulls are only two points off the top of the table after seven matches is credit to manager Graham Potter and his staff, who have started to see impressive football translate to positive results.
Brighton won back-to-back league games against Brentford and Leicester in the middle of September before playing out successive draws with Crystal Palace and Arsenal before the international break.
Perhaps the true strength of Potter's side will be shown before the end of the month, as their next two after this weekend's clash at Carrow Road are at home to Man City and away to Liverpool.
Brighton scored three goals and did not concede in their two wins over Norwich during the 2019-20 Premier League campaign, while they put five unanswered goals past the Canaries in the Championship back in 2016 and will certainly enter Saturday's contest as the favourites.
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Team News
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Norwich will again be without the services of Sam Byram through injury, while Mathias Normann, Christoph Zimmermann and Todd Cantwell will face late fitness tests.
Head coach Farke will have been pleased with his team's performance against Burnley before the international break, so it would not be a surprise to see the same XI take to the field.
Teemu Pukki should again be joined in attack by Joshua Sargent, while Ben Gibson, Grant Hanley and Ozan Kabak should line up as the three central defenders.
As for Brighton, head coach Potter has revealed that Yves Bissouma, Enock Mwepu and Adam Webster are in contention to return from minor injuries this weekend.
However, Danny Welbeck and Steven Alzate are facing long periods out with hamstring and ankle injuries respectively, with both players requiring surgery.
The Seagulls are again expected to line up in a 3-5-2 formation this weekend, with Neal Maupay being joined by Leandro Trossard in the final third, while Bissouma could return to the midfield in place of Jakub Moder.
Norwich City possible starting lineup:
Krul; Kabak, Hanley, Gibson; Aarons, Lees-Melou, Normann, McLean, Giannoulis; Pukki, Sargent
Brighton & Hove Albion possible starting lineup:
Sanchez; Duffy, Dunk, Burn; Veltman, Gross, Lallana, Bissouma, Cucurella; Trossard, Maupay
We say: Norwich City 1-2 Brighton & Hove Albion
Norwich will be looking to build on their draw against Burnley before the international break, but the Canaries will be coming up against an in-form Brighton outfit. We are expecting a close match at Carrow Road but have just settled on an away victory, with Brighton potentially being the surprise package of the 2021-22 campaign.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Brighton & Hove Albion win with a probability of 40.36%. A win for Norwich City had a probability of 32.62% and a draw had a probability of 27%.
The most likely scoreline for a Brighton & Hove Albion win was 0-1 with a probability of 11.06%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.47%) and 0-2 (7.31%). The likeliest Norwich City win was 1-0 (9.71%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.82%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with an 8.4% likelihood.
