Premier League: Canaries Visit Leeds for Crucial Relegation Clash

Leeds United vs Norwich City

Norwich City will continue their battle for Premier League survival when they face fellow relegation strugglers Leeds United at Elland Road.

The Canaries are running out of games to save themselves from yet another drop down to the Championship, and this matchup against Leeds is one of their best opportunities left to claim three crucial points.

However, Leeds will also be very keen to improve their Premier League 2022 odds of survival by getting a huge home win against arguably the worst side in the league.

Talking Points

Leeds show promise in Marsch debut

As of this writing, Leeds are still in 16th place in the Premier League, one point above Everton, who still have two games in hand.

The Whites lost 1-0 away to Leicester in new head coach Jesse Marsch’s debut. Marsch immediately made some changes to Leeds’ tactics, most notably doing away with Marcelo Bielsa’s man-to-man pressing.

Marsch also fielded a 4-2-2-2 formation, and Leeds produced a promising attacking performance as they significantly outshot the Foxes, 19-7. Raphinha had a lively game with four shots and had five shot-creating actions.

As has been the case for most of the season, though, the Whites lacked the cutting edge in front of goal as they missed many of their chances. Leeds have now failed to score in three straight games and four of their last five.

But the good news for Marsch and Leeds is that star striker Patrick Bamford might be ready to make his much-awaited return after missing most of the season due to injury. He was back on the bench against Leicester and could very well make his return in Leeds’ midweek match against Aston Villa.

Captain Liam Cooper is also back in training and is closing in on his return, with Kalvin Phillips not far behind. Phillips is back in training, but Marsch suggests the England midfielder may not be return until after the international break.

Norwich’s survival hopes not looking good

Things are not looking good for Norwich. Another poor run of Premier League 2022 results – five games without a win, including four straight defeats – has seen them drop back down to the bottom of the standings, two points behind second-from-bottom Watford and five points from safety.

The Canaries’ losing skid could very well extend to five in a row after their midweek meeting against Chelsea.

Teemu Pukki is doing all he can to keep the Canaries competitive. He’s the team’s leading scorer with 7 league goals and has scored two of their three goals in their last five Premier League outings.

But the overall quality just isn’t there in this Norwich squad. Summer signings Milot Rashica and Josh Sargent have been quite disappointing as they’ve scored just three goals between them.

The defence has also been a disaster as they’ve conceded 58 goals – second only to Leeds for most in the Premier League.

Centre-back Ben Gibson – another key summer signing – might be dropped after conceding two penalties against Brentford, but he could keep his place if Ozan Kabak is not fit to play. Meanwhile, right-back Max Aarons is likely to return to the starting lineup after his recent injury knock.

History

Leeds and Norwich have faced off 60 times overall. The Whites hold a slight 24-20 edge over Norwich in terms of all-time wins, while there have been 16 draws.

They met several times in the Championship, and those matches were quite competitive. Although, Leeds had the upper hand as they won three of their last six meetings, with two defeats and a draw.

The Whites also won their first meeting of this season at Carrow Road, 2-1, thanks to goals from Raphinha and Rodrigo.

Betting Tip

SBOTOP odds have Leeds priced as overwhelming 1.57 favourites to beat Norwich, who are pegged at 5.00. A draw is at 4.20. This is certainly a huge opportunity for Marsch and Leeds to pick up some much-needed points and inch further away from the relegation zone. Look for Leeds to get off to a strong start first half at home against Norwich en route to a crucial victory.

 

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