Manchester United vs Norwich City 08/01/20

8 January 2020

After being brushed aside by cross-town rivals Manchester City in the Carabao Cup, Manchester United will be looking to regain some momentum when they take on Norwich City at Old Trafford this weekend.

The hosts are now winless in their last three competitive fixtures (D1, L2), scoring just once across those matches while conceding five goals. The one thing that can comfort the home fans ahead of the kick-off is that the Red Devils have not tasted home defeat in their last eight PL outings at Old Trafford (W4, D4), with seven of their previous such matches all witnessing both teams score. Also, United boast a solid home record against Norwich in the 21st century. They’ve picked up five consecutive wins in such H2Hs before suffering a 2-1 defeat in 2015, with four of those successes during the above period coming via a multiple-goal margin. Although Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men allowed the opening goal in three of their last four PL home matches, they have still managed to rescue five points from those three fixtures (W1, D2), scoring at least one first-half goal in each.

Nailed to the bottom of the table, the visitors enter this round on a run of eight consecutive PL games without a win (D4, L4)m with seven of those matches seeing both teams score. Frustratingly slow starters on the road, the Canaries have shipped the opener in seven of ten PL away games so far this season, failing to return a single point from those fixtures. Arguably the weakest away side in England’s top tier, Norwich have grabbed just 35% of their total PL points on the road, drawing a blank in 60% of their ten league away games. Therefore, it will be crucial for them to keep a blank sheet here, although that seems highly unlikely. Daniel Farke’s players have not only failed to shut their opponents out in eight of ten PL road trips, but they’ve conceded over 1.5 goals on six of those occasions.