Norwich vs Portsmouth Prediction: More misery for Mousinho’s men

A heavy 6-1 defeat at Queens Park Rangers on March 21 confined Portsmouth to a third consecutive defeat in the Championship. Pompey are now just one point above the relegation zone, although they do have a game in hand on the teams around them. 

They travel to Carrow Road on Friday to face Norwich City (15:00 BST, Sky Sports+). The Canaries have won five of their previous six fixtures heading into the Easter weekend. Read on for my Norwich vs Portsmouth predictions, aided by the latest team news and match odds.

Team News

Portsmouth are still dealing with injuries to Josh Knight, Ajibola Alese, Andre Dozzell, Mark Kosznovszky, Josh Murphy, Franco Umeh and Thomas Waddingham. All of them are expected to miss out again.

Following the humiliation at QPR, John Mousinho may consider making the amount of changes possible to him right now given a lack of resources.

Football Odds

Norwich also have a lengthy injury list that includes Jovon Makama, Gabe Forsyth, Mohamed Toure, Shane Duffy, Harry Amass and Pape Diallo.

Pelle Mattsson returned to the side with a goal at Charlton Athletic last time out, so a place in the midfield looks guaranteed for him here.

Norwich vs Portsmouth Odds

Norwich have won five of their past six home games in the league and they are 9/10 favourites to come out on top here.

The draw is available at 5/2, with Portsmouth experiencing a stalemate in their second-most recent away trip in the Championship. Pompey have the fifth-worst away record in the division (W4 D6 L9) and they are a 3/1 shot to win this fixture.

Norwich have been the only team on the scoresheet in six of their previous seven victories in the league. They are 21/10 to be the only team to score on Friday.

Today's Football Fixtures

Match Result - Norwich @ 9/10

Norwich have come a long way this season after a very poor start under Liam Manning. Philippe Clement has transformed this team since arriving in November and the Canaries have since flown into the top half of the table.

Their slow start could be costly but they are currently nine points shy of the play-offs with seven games left. I think they are more reliant on teams above them faltering, but Norwich can have a role to play in these remaining weeks.

They are one of the form sides in the division, having won 10 of their previous 13 fixtures in the Championship. They should have no issues recording another victory on Friday because Portsmouth don't seem to have any answers right now.

Home Team Total Goals - Over 1.5 @ 1/1

Given Pompey shipped six goals on their last away trip, I believe Norwich are worth covering to score at least twice against Mousinho's men on Friday. The hosts have registered two goals in each of their last five league games at Carrow Road and so I think this trend will continue.

They also scored two goals in their victory against the visitors in the reverse fixture all the way back in August. Considering how the team is in a much better shape than they were back then, two goals on this occasion should be a much easier exercise.

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