Sheff Wed vs Norwich Prediction: Owls can swoop for three points

Two sides with an awful lot to play for meet at Hillsborough on Tuesday night as Sheffield Wednesday host Norwich City (19:45, Sky Sports red button). The Owls pulled off a stunning away win as they beat QPR in a relegation six-pointer on Saturday, while the Canaries kept their incredible 15-year unbeaten run going in the East Anglian derby with a 1-0 success. 

Norwich are now in pole position to secure a top-six spot, while the home side are just one point from safety, and will be desperate to drag themselves above the dotted line. Here’s my Sheff Wed vs Norwich prediction, featuring team news and a couple of betting selections. 

Team News 

Worryingly for Wednesday, Ian Poveda limped out of the game on Saturday in his first start back with another hamstring injury, so he may be sidelined for some time. On a positive note, Josh Windass played 70 minutes in his first game in two months, while Callum Paterson came on for last 20 in his first minutes since Boxing Day. Marvin Johnson has a slight injury although his relationship with manager Danny Rohl has been called into question - so it will be interesting to see if he returns to the squad here. 

Meanwhile, Norwich will be looking to replicate their incredible performance from the weekend, as they stopped Ipswich in their tracks to secure a famous 1-0 win. David Wagner may choose to name the same XI, although they did exert a lot of energy in that game. Liam Gibbs could come into the team to add legs to midfield if needed while Onel Hernandez, Dimitri Giannoulous, Jon Rowe and Jakob Sorenson all remain out. 

Match Odds

Sheffield Wednesday are 15/8 to win this match, a draw is 11/5 and Norwich are priced as the favourites at 5/4. That gives the away team an implied win probability of 44%, and if you fancy goals, BTTS is 4/6 and over 2.5 goals is 5/6. 

Sheff Wed to win @ 15/8

This is likely to be a close encounter between two sides desperate for points, but I believe the value lies in backing the Owls to come out on top. Norwich have won their last eight home matches on the trot, and beaten some excellent teams in that time, but their away form is nothing short of atrocious. 

They've only picked up 20 points from their 20 games on the road so far, giving them the 19th-worst record in the division. They are a side packed full of attacking talent, but Wagner doesn’t seem to be able to set them up properly away from home. Against Leicester in their last away game, things looked good at 1-0 up, but they sat deep and crumbled - eventually losing 3-1. 

I like this Norwich side a lot, but I can’t see past that dreadful away form. Wednesday themselves are more comfortable on home soil too, having registered 26 points from their 20 home league games so far. They can get the job done here, and secure a much-needed win that could take them out of the bottom three. 

Sheff Wed to win 1-0 @ 9/1

I was staggered when I saw the price of this one, and think we have to include it. Wednesday can win this game, and Norwich have proven themselves to be soft at times this season. The form-book suggests that the away side should come out on top on paper, but their away form is so bad I can see them struggling here.

Wednesday, if they are winning, will be backed by a huge support who know how important this game is to their survival hopes. Meanwhile Danny Rohl's outfit don’t score a huge number of goals, but have secured some big results in the last couple of months. They beat Rotherham and Plymouth 1-0, and looked like they would replicate that result at the weekend, before Anthony Musaba’s 96th-minute clincher. 

I like the look of this one, even though it means backing against Norwich’s impressive attack. 

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