A trip to a Norwich City team beginning to hit their stride back in the Championship would not have been Wycombe Wanderers' ideal fixture choice as they continue to search for their first points in the division.
The Chairboys lost for the sixth successive match against Reading on Tuesday night, while the Canaries defeated Birmingham City 1-0.
Match preview
© Reuters
Norwich dominated possession and had the bulk of the chances against the Blues but looked set to be left frustrated until Mario Vrancic's low-strike in the 87th-minute secured the three points.
After victory over Rotherham last weekend, it was the first time in 17 months that Daniel Farke's side had won two league games in a row.
It also marked their first home win since they beat Leicester City in February, and Farke will feel that these are important stepping stones as he attempts to rebuild following the club's disastrous spell in the Premier League last season.
Norwich are now up to eighth in the table – one point off the playoffs – and also welcomed back Todd Cantwell to the side on Tuesday night.
The 22-year-old was linked with a move to Leeds United in the final few weeks of the transfer window but having stayed put he should prove to be a key player in the Canaries' midfield. Indeed, he was one of the most influential players on the pitch against Birmingham.
© Reuters
He is the kind of playmaker that Gareth Ainsworth would love to have in his Wycombe side as the Chairboys boss was once again left frustrated after failing to turn a good performance into a result against Reading on Tuesday.
The newly-promoted outfit were the better team for much of the game at the Madejski Stadium, but Lucas Joao's second-half goal condemned them to a 1-0 defeat.
As they remain on zero points from six games, Wycombe are only being kept off the bottom of the table by Sheffield Wednesday's points deduction, but even the gap to the Owls is closing.
The loss to the Royals extended Wycombe's run of just one win in their last 13 away games, while they have not even scored on the road in the Championship this season.
Saturday will mark only their second visit to Carrow Road and in fact only the fifth ever meeting between the two sides, with Norwich winning all of the previous encounters – most recently a thrilling 4-3 victory in the Carabao Cup in September 2018.
Norwich City Championship form: WDLLWW
Wycombe Wanderers Championship form: LLLLLL
Team News
© Reuters
Mario Vrancic will be keen to start for the first time this season after coming off the bench to score the winner against Birmingham.
None of Norwich's striking options has scored more than one goal so far, so there is no obvious choice for Farke in terms of who starts upfront out of Teemu Pukki, Jordan Hugill and Adam Idah.
Christoph Zimmermann remains sidelined with a thigh injury so Grant Hanley will continue at centre-back.
Anis Mehmeti impressed as a substitute for Wycombe against Reading, and Gareth Ainsworth may be tempted to hand the 19-year-old a first ever start – it would be an opportunity to prove a point against Norwich, who released him from their academy in 2019.
The recently-injured quartet of Dominic Gape, Uche Ikpeazu, Ryan Tafazolli and Alex Pattison were all described as "in contention" for the trip to the Madejski Stadium but did not even make the bench, so fans will be hoping that their return could instead come on Saturday.
Norwich City possible starting lineup:
Krul; Aarons, Hanley, Gibson, Quintilla; Skipp, Rupp; Buendia, Pukki, Cantwell; Hugill
Wycombe Wanderers possible starting lineup:
Allsopp; Grimmer, Knight, Stewart, Jacobsen; Onyedinma, Thompson, Adeniran, Mehmeti; Kashket, Samuel
We say: Norwich City 2-0 Wycombe Wanderers
Wycombe proved on Tuesday that they are able to compete with the league's best, but they just need be more effective in both boxes. Sadly it is hard to see them picking up anything against a Norwich side still packed with quality, but surely those elusive points are just around the corner.
Top betting tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting a home win in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Home Win:dataData 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 Norwich City win with a probability of 48.06%. A draw had a probability of 26% and a win for Wycombe Wanderers had a probability of 25.9%.
The most likely scoreline for a Norwich City win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.11%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.2%) and 2-0 (9.02%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.35%), while for a Wycombe Wanderers win it was 0-1 (8.29%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 9.2% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Norwich City would win this match.
