The Sky Blues travel to Carrow Road to play league leaders Norwich City on Saturday afternoon. Here’s everything you need to know about our opponents.

Fact File

Name: Norwich City

Founded: 1902

Stadium: Carrow Road (first opened 1935)

Capacity: 27,359

Nickname: The Canaries

Address: Carrow Road, Norwich, NR1 1JE

Pitch Size: 115 x 74 yards

The Opposition

Norwich currently sit top of the table having been relegated from the Premier League last season, heading straight back down to the second tier after one season back in the top-flight.

The Canaries have plenty of talent at their disposal including Tim Krul in goal, Max Aarons at right-back, Todd Cantwell and Emiliano Buendia in midfield and in-form Teemu Pukki up front.

The Norfolk club have only lost two games so far this season and are currently on a nine-game unbeaten run in the league.

Manager

Daniel Farke was appointed as Norwich head coach in May 2017, arriving from Borussia Dortmund’s second team.

He began his managerial career with SV Lippstadt, spending six years with the non-league side, taking them from the sixth tier to the fourth tier of German football.

The 44-year-old then spent two seasons in charge of Borussia Dortmund’s reserve side before being appointed as Norwich manager ahead of the 2017/18 campaign.

He led the club to a 14^th place finish in his first season in charge before storming to the Championship title in 2018/19, guiding Norwich back into the Premier League for the first time in three seasons.

The Canaries were relegated back to the Championship after just one season in the top-flight but have made an impressive start to the 2020/21 campaign as they look for an immediate return to the Premier League.

With Norwich, Farke has managed 160 matches recording 63 wins, 40 draws and 57 defeats.

Last Six Games

Won – Stoke City 2-3 Norwich (Sky Bet Championship)

Won – Middlesbrough 0-1 Norwich (Sky Bet Championship)

Won – Norwich 1-0 Swansea City (Sky Bet Championship)

Drew – Norwich 0-0 Millwall (Sky Bet Championship)

Won – Bristol City 1-3 Norwich (Sky Bet Championship)

Drew – Brentford 1-1 Norwich (Sky Bet Championship)

Last Time We Met

The two sides last met in August 2016 when the Sky Blues suffered a 6-1 defeat to Norwich at Carrow Road in the second round of the EFL Cup.

Norwich went ahead through Kyle Lafferty on 25 minutes when he coolly finished past Reice Charles-Cook after being played through by Sergi Canos.

The Canaries doubled their lead when Canos cut inside of his man before curling an effort into the bottom right corner from 20-yards out.

City halved the deficit from the penalty spot when Harry Toffolo pushed Dion Kelly-Evans inside the area, with substitute Ruben Lameiras confidently finishing into the bottom right corner.

However, Norwich restored their two-goal lead just minutes later, when Russell Martin flicked home James Maddison’s corner from the left.

Former City man Maddison set-up Jacob Murphy for the hosts fourth goal, playing a simple ball into his path, before the winger curled an effort into the bottom right corner from the edge of the penalty area.

Norwich further extended their lead 10 minutes from time when Josh Murphy slipped Canos through, with the Spaniard poking an effort past Charles-Cook to double his tally for the game.

Ben Godfrey completed the scoring four minutes from time lashing an effort past Charles-Cook to compound a miserable evening for Tony Mowbray’s men.

Head-to-Head Record

Sky Blues Wins – 54

Draws – 34

Norwich Wins – 33

Club Connections

James Maddison

Coventry born James Maddison came through the Sky Blues academy before moving to Norwich City and going on to represent England at international level.

He made his debut for City in the 2014/15 season and would go on to make 42 appearances for the Sky Blues, scoring five goals, having agreed to join Norwich in January 2016.

Maddison spent time on loan in Scotland with Aberdeen during the 2016/17 season, making 14 appearances for the Dons, before returning to Norwich and scoring on his league debut.

The midfielder blossomed under Daniel Farke, enjoying a memorable 2017/18 campaign, scoring 14 goals in 44 appearances, winning the club’s Player of the Season award and earning a place in the PFA Championship Team of the Year and the EFL Team of the Season.

His impressive form earned him a move to Premier League side Leicester City in June 2018 and has impressed in the top-flight becoming a dead ball specialist with the Foxes.

The 24-year-old has scored 14 league goals for Leicester, helping them qualify for the UEFA Europa League last season and made his senior England debut for November 2019.

Sam McCallum

Current Sky Blues defender Sam McCallum arrived on loan from Norwich in the summer, after an impressive season with City last term.

The 20-year-old began his career with non-league side Herne Bay before attending Jamie Vardy’s V9 Academy where he was picked up by the Sky Blues, making his debut in the 2018/19 campaign.

He broke into the first-team last season, making 35 appearances, scoring three goals, to help City win the League One title, having signed for Norwich in January 2020 before being loaned back to the Sky Blues for the remainder of the season.

The defender made one appearance for the Canaries in the EFL Cup this term, before rejoining the Sky Blues on loan in September, scoring a fine goal in City’s win against Reading last month.

Match Officials

Keith Stroud will be the man in the middle on Saturday afternoon, taking charge of his 12^th game of the 2020/21 season.

He last refereed the Sky Blues in October, when City were held to a 1-1 by Swansea City at St Andrew’s.

This will be Stroud’s 17^th season as a Football League referee and he has officiated the Sky Blues on 14 occasions, with City winning three, drawing three and losing eight of those matches.

So far, Stroud has awarded 24 yellow cards and one red card across 11 matches in the Carabao Cup, Championship and League Two.

He will be assisted by Sam Lewis and Nigel Lugg with Andy Davies acting as fourth official.