Will Wolves halt Norwich’s brief upward trend?
The English Premier League saw two coaching debuts last weekend, with Steven Gerrard and Dean Smith both making a fine start. The motto now is to follow up and play themselves into a small euphoria. This is the chance for promoted Norwich against Wolverhampton on Saturday.
The second win in a row has lifted the Canaries out of last place in the Premier League. However, they are still three points off the bottom of the table. The Wolves are also a team in very good form at Carrow Road, who have gained a lot of self-confidence in recent weeks and are now in sixth place. Accordingly, the lowest betting odds are to be found on Norwich against Wolverhampton when betting on the visitors.
The visitors’ poor start to the season has long been forgotten. Head coach Bruno Lage’s side are currently in the best form in the Premier League, alongside Manchester City and Chelsea. Kick-off at Carrow Road on Saturday afternoon is 4pm.
Norwich – Statistics & current form
An unusual time was used by Norwich for their coaching sacking, with Daniel Farke forced to vacate his chair just hours after their first win of the season. Successor Dean Smith was out of work for only a few days even after his dismissal at Aston Villa before finding a new job. A 2-1 home win over Southampton gave the Canaries their second win of the season in a row.
Smith on the trail of Mike Walker?
After Dean Smith’s debut win, the new head coach could become only the second Norwich coach to win his first two games in the top flight on Saturday afternoon. Only Mike Walker previously achieved this feat in August 1992.
The two recent victories make for some curious statistics. Before these two games, the Canaries needed no less than 35 Premier League matches to be able to cheer twice. Moreover, four goals were scored in those two matches, while in the 20 PL matches before that Norwich also managed only four goals. Another success against Wolves on Saturday would be the first time Norwich have won three Premier League duels in a row since December 2012.
Goals galore at Carrow Road
Norwich centre-back Grant Hanley scored the winning goal from a corner kick last weekend. The Scotsman’s goal meant that betting on an over 2.5 in a Norwich home match was again crowned with success. Of the six home matches so far this season, five have ended with at least three goals. However, the bookmakers are offering odds of well over 2.00 on this prediction for Norwich against Wolverhampton on Saturday afternoon. This is mainly due to the visitors’ style of play, which relies on a very stable defence and takes few risks going forward.
Predicted line-up of Norwich:
Krul – Williams, Gibson, Hanley, Aarons – Normann – Cantwell, Gilmour, McLean, Rashica – Pukki
Last matches played by Norwich:
Premier League
11/20 2021 – Norwich 2 – 1 Southampton
11/06 2021 – Brentford 1 – 2 Norwich
10/31 2021 – Norwich 1 – 2 Leeds
10/23 2021 – Chelsea London 7 – 0 Norwich
10/16 2021 – Norwich 0 – 0 Brighton
Wolverhampton – Statistics & current form
Not surprisingly, a Portuguese coach was introduced as the successor to Nuno Espirito Santo at Wolves. With Bruno Lage, the club brought the former head coach of Benfica Lisbon to the industrial city. The first few weeks under the new coach were anything but promising, with Wolves suffering four defeats in their first five league games.
Wolves in fine form
But the poor start to the season has long been forgotten and is no longer an issue, as success has followed success in recent weeks. In the last seven Premier League games, the Lage eleven collected 16 points (5-1-1 record). No other team in the Premier League has collected more points in this period. Only Chelsea and Manchester City can keep pace, also with 16 points from the last seven games.
Mexican striker Raul Jimenez has played a very big part in this. Last season, he was condemned to watch due to his head injury. In the meantime, he is fit as a fiddle again and always scores the winning goal. He has scored 37 goals in the Premier League so far, 17 of which were decisive for Wolves. His three goals in the current 2021/22 season have each turned out to be match-winning goals. Last weekend he made it 1-0 at home to West Ham. For Norwich against Wolverhampton, odds of 2.00 are currently offered on a Jimenez goal. Leipzig loanee Hee-Chan Hwang is also in fine form (four goals in nine games).
Few goals are scored in Wolves games
Wolverhampton Wanderers have a myriad of Portuguese players in their squad due to the “Gestifute” influence of super-advisor Jorge Mendes, and they cultivate a technically very attractive brand of football. However, anyone who thinks that the existing enthusiasm for the game means that the work against the ball is neglected will be proved wrong. Wolverhampton is a team that places an extremely high value on defence.
As a result, fans of attacking spectacle do not get their money’s worth with the Wanderers. On average, only two goals were scored per match involving Wolves this season, the lowest figure in the Premier League. The Lage side have failed to score on five occasions and the home side’s poor finishing means that predicting that neither team will score is a good option between Norwich and Wolverhampton.
Predicted Wolverhampton line-up:
Sa – Ait Nouri, Kilman, Coady, Saiss, Semedo – Hwang, Moutinho, Neves, Podence – Jimenez
Last matches played by Wolverhampton:
Premier League
11/20 2021 – Wolverhampton 1 – 0 West Ham
11/06 2021 – Crystal Palace 2 – 0 Wolverhampton
11/01 2021 – Wolverhampton 2 – 1 Everton
10/23 2021 – Leeds 1 – 1 Wolverhampton
10/16 2021 – Aston Villa 2 – 3 Wolverhampton
Norwich – Wolverhampton Direct Comparison / H2H Record
Between 2015 and 2017, the Canaries from Norwich managed to win three times in a row against Wolves. But since then, the current promoted team is winless in games against Wolverhampton Wanderers (one draw, three defeats). Wolves celebrated two of those three victories at Norwich’s Carrow Road. On Saturday, odds of 2.20 are offered on Norwich vs Wolverhampton for this tip.
Norwich – Wolverhampton Tip
With the second win in a row, the promoted team takes new courage and still sees itself competitive in the English football top flight. In the second home game in a row, however, an extremely difficult task awaits them, as Wolverhampton Wanderers are currently one of the best-formed teams in the Premier League. This is one of the reasons why the lowest betting odds are offered for Norwich against Wolverhampton on an away win.
Norwich have shown signs of life recently, but there are still major problems. The defence is anything but solid, the offensive is mostly just a lukewarm breeze. The visitors, on the other hand, are a team with a lot of patience and are aware that sooner or later the opportunity will come to decide the game. A compact team blessed with a lot of individual quality. Therefore, six units are recommended as a stake for Norwich vs Wolverhampton predictions on the visitors.
