Kick-off: 1500, 20/11/2021
Stadium: Carrow Road
New Norwich manager Dean Smith faces Southampton for the second time in a fortnight and will hope for revenge at Carrow Road.
A 1-0 defeat against the Saints prior to the international break resulted in Smith being sacked by Aston Villa so he will know all about his first opponents now he has moved to East Anglia.
Unfortunately for Smith, we think Norwich have less quality than Villa and he has had little time to work with his new squad so an away win at evens is our first Norwich vs Southampton prediction.
Norwich Odds
Smith is in the unusual position of taking charge of a team that won its previous game as he makes a swift return to a Premier League dugout.
Norwich’s 2-1 victory at Brentford last time out gave us three winning betting tips in our match preview but was not enough to save Daniel Farke’s job and Norwich are still bottom of the table and five points from safety.
Following his appointment, Smith said: “It has been a whirlwind seven days but I’m really pleased to be back and working for Norwich City in the Premier League.
“Clearly, there has been some wonderful work that has gone into this football club over the last four and a half years. It is now the job of myself and Craig (Shakespeare) to continue and improve on that work with the ultimate aim of surviving in the Premier League.
“Norwich City is a big club. I was brought up in an era when Norwich were competing in Europe – I remember those times well and whenever I’ve visited Carrow Road and Norwich you can really sense the connection between the fans, staff and players.
“Together, we all have to make Carrow Road a really tough place for visiting teams.”
It is up front where the biggest improvement is needed, with Norwich’s two goals at Brentford taking their tally this season to just five.
Providing a regular supply line for main striker Teemu Pukki, who has proved he can score goals in the Premier League, will be crucial to their survival chances, as will finding goals from elsewhere on the field.
On-loan Billy Gilmour has largely been overlooked for the last couple of months while Todd Cantwell has not featured since September.
There are plenty of problems for Smith to solve and given the Canaries have failed to find the net in seven of their 11 matches, a Saints win to nil appeals at 12/5 in the Norwich v Southampton odds.
Last Norwich line-up: Krul, Aarons, Gibson, Williams, Omobamidele, Dowell, Normann, Rashica, Lees-Melou, McLean, Pukki.
Christoph Zimmermann remains out following ankle surgery last month, while fellow defender Grant Hanley has recently been struggling with a groin problem.
Southampton Odds
Southampton also had early relegation fears after failing to win any of their first seven matches but 10 points from their last four games has eased the pressure.
The 1-0 victory over Villa lifted them to 13th in the table but they start the weekend just three points behind sixth-placed Manchester United.
Only Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea have conceded fewer goals and five clean sheets is an impressive haul at this stage of the campaign.
Their three wins have all been 1-0 so that looks an obvious pick at 13/2 as the last of our Norwich vs Southampton betting tips.
Last Southampton line-up: McCarthy, Walker-Peters, Livramento, Salisu, Bednarek, Romeu, Ward-Prowse, Elyounoussi, S Armstrong, A Armstrong, Adams.
James Ward-Prowse is fit despite pulling out of England duty through illness. Defender Tino Livramento and forward Armando Broja are also available, having missed their stints on international duty as well.
Defender Jack Stephens is the only absentee with a knee injury.
Additional Norwich vs Southampton stats
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