Sunday, August 20th. Carrow Road, for a 12 noon kick-off. It’s Norwich City vs Millwall in the EFL Championship.
Both have so far won one of their two matches. Norwich sit higher in the table courtesy of an extra point gathered by sensationally drawing 4-4 at Southampton.
Betting on the match, main market, is as follows; Norwich 21/20, Millwall 13/5, Draw 12/5.
Team News
Never easy assessing matches so early in the season but it remains fascinating to see how well prepared (or otherwise) sides are, as the narrative slowly begins to unfold.
Norwich expect to be without Jacob Sorensen, Jonathan Tomkinson and Borja Sainz for some time to come, while Onel Hernandez has a broken hand.
Tony Springett is a doubt but has a chance, after exiting early in the midweek Cup win at QPR.
Murray Wallace could return for Millwall after suffering the effects of a head knock, rightly monitored religiously these days. George Honeyman hasn’t yet shaken off a quad injury, so I understand he’ll miss out.
Millwall boss Gary Rowett will be concerned perhaps about a rather goal-shy start to the season. Just one so far in an admittedly fine win at ‘Boro, while returning blanks in the heavy cup defeat at home to Reading, and in the 0-1 reverse to Bristol City.
Norwich to win to nil @ 12/5
I’m backing that drought to continue, at least at Carrow Road on Sunday lunchtime. The Canaries were abject given their lofty hopes last term in the Championship, hardly making half-way in the table. Manager David Wagner was in charge for the second half of the season and has of course tasted relative success in England before with Huddersfield Town.
Norwich have been a Premier League outfit in recent years but find it very hard to stay there. Wagner looks to galvanise the club and eventually once again bask in the promised land of the PL.
In contrast to their reluctant visitors Norwich have hit the back of the net seven times in the last couple of weeks, and in what I feel will be a very tight encounter can breach the Millwall rearguard enough to secure all three points. Par score for me is a 1-0 or 2-0 Norwich win, so I’m building my thoughts around that.
Norwich to win @ 21/20
Gut feeling is very important when it comes to having a flutter. Especially early in the season, when there’s limited evidence before us. My instinct is that the Carrow Road faithful will be right behind the Canaries, and they’ll see this as a tough but winnable encounter.
Meanwhile Millwall will perhaps prove obdurate opponents without quite having the cutting edge to make it their day. Home advantage is and always will be a massive plus in the world of sport. Statistics since the dawn of time can back that up beautifully. So I believe it will be on Sunday – a narrow, hard-fought and encouraging win for City.
