Norwich v Birmingham tips: Canaries to close the gap to Leeds?

Championship football is back under the Friday night lights, with East Anglia playing host to the TV cameras as Norwich City face Birmingham City.

On the opening week of the Championship season, the pair played out a 2-2 draw after Onel Hernandez rescued a point for the Canaries in added time.

Can either side pick up the victory this time around? Here’s all you need to know for tonight’s clash…

Match Odds

Third-placed Norwich have struggled to turn draws into wins recently, but they’re still heavily favoured with our traders. They’ve got the Canaries at 20/23 to pick up three points.

Birmingham won’t take any comfort looking at their recent results against the East Anglian side, picking up one point from a possible 12 in the last four meetings. They’re at 3/1 to win.

If you fancy a repeat of the result from earlier this season, a draw of any scoreline are offered at 5/2.

Talking Tactics

Canaries boss Daniel Farke will have to plan for the game without key men Timm Klose, Alex Tettey and Moritz Leitner.

The German head coach has favoured a 4-2-3-1 set-up this season and to great effect, bringing a balance to the side that he couldn’t find last campaign.

Teemu Pukki has been Norwich’s other key man this season, and will be looking to maintain his role up front.

Jordan Rhodes may feel hard done by if he’s left on the bench however, after rescuing a draw against West Brom last time out.

Garry Monk has had an injury boost for his Birmingham side ahead of the game at Carrow road, with the return of trio Jota, Kristian Pedersen and Isaac Vassell.

It’s not known whether they’re fit enough to slot straight into the starting line-up, but they are all set to return to the bench at the very least.

Monk’s favoured 4-4-2 system hasn’t achieved the best results of late, so it remains to be seen whether the Blues boss will stick or twist with his formation.

All hopes of a Birmingham win rely on the form of front men Che Adams and Lukas Jutkiewicz, who have notched 23 of Birmingham’s 39 league goals between them so far this season.

Goalscoring Odds

Pukki is battling it out for the Championship Golden Boot, so unsurprisingly, he’s favourite amongst our traders to open the scoring at 10/3. He’s also 6/5 to score anytime.

After scoring twice in the return fixture, Hernandez is 11/4 to score anytime, with odds of 8/1 for him to round off the scoring again.

Jacques Maghoma opened the scoring in the game at St Andrew’s, and he’s 14/1 to break the deadlock this time.

Blues top scorer Adams 2/1 to score anytime, with attacking partner Jutkiewicz sat out at 9/4 anytime.

Click here for the latest Norwich City v Birmingham City odds

All Odds and Markets correct as of date of publication.