Norwich vs Bristol City Prediction: Canaries on track for top six

The Championship is reaching its conclusion and there is still plenty to play for up and down the division. Norwich City are within touching distance of securing a top-six finish, but they will need to secure a couple more wins given Hull City boast a game in hand on the Canaries. Next up for the Norfolk club is the visit of Bristol City, who will be playing Championship football next season, as they are settled in 12th in the table.

Below you can find my Norwich vs Bristol City prediction, featuring team news, match odds and a couple of betting selections. 

Team News

The major boost for Norwich City in the win over Preston North End was not only the vital three points, but the fact they welcomed back Jon Rowe after he sat out the last 11 league matches with a serious hamstring issue. 

Arguably Norwich’s best player before the tear, he has 12 goals in 29 games and his return is a huge boost to their promotion hopes. Unlikely to be thrown straight in, Borja Sainz and Gabriel Sara will provide the creativity for now, with Josh Sargent set to continue up front. 

For Bristol City, Ayman Benarous has suffered another setback in his bid to recover from back-to-back ACLs, and his season is over after he picked his second hamstring injury of the campaign. Rob Atkinson is also out with an ACL injury, as Liam Manning looks to steer his side safely to the end of the season. 

Match Odds

Norwich are the clear favourites to win this one, priced at 8/13 to take maximum points, giving them an implied win probability of 61%. Meanwhile, the away side are the outsiders at 4/1 and a draw can be backed at 13/5. If goals are your thing, over 2.5 is 5/6, with BTTS available at the same price. 

Norwich to win to nil @ 8/5

I like the look of this Norwich team, especially when you consider that one of their star names is set to get more gametime. Rowe is sure to make an impact off the bench, but the side have found a winning formula in his absence that has carried them all the way into the top six. It wasn’t something that many predicted at the start of the season, but David Wagner has got his side winning big matches, and their home form is sublime. 

Norwich have the fourth-best home record in the division, having picked up 47 points at Carrow Road this season. They’ve scored 40 and conceded just 19 during that time, while Bristol City have only won six from 21 on the road. 

I think the Canaries will get the job done here, but to boost our odds further we can back them to win to nil. They impressively stopped rivals Ipswich from scoring and they kept a clean sheet at Preston last time out, while four of their last seven games have ended in wins to nil. This is a decent pick to kick things off. 

Josh Sargent to score first @ 4/1

Rowe’s return is set to help Norwich out, but Sargent’s impact since coming back from injury has turned their entire season around. He’s one of the finest strikers in the division, with Premier League quality, and he’s now scored 15 goals in 23 appearances so far this campaign. That’s an incredible record, and he would have surely won the Golden Boot had he been fit for the entire season, so it makes sense to back him here. 

Given I think Norwich will be the only scorers on Saturday, I want to back Sargent to come out firing, and bag the first goal of the game at a decent price of 4/1. It’s an important day for the Canaries, and they should be able to plan for the play-offs with another three points.

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