“Norwich City FC” (CC BY 2.0) by  pittaya

Will Norwich survive in the Premier League?

Norwich City are in familiar territory and once again face a fierce battle to remain in the Premier League.

Canaries fans have been here before. It was only a couple of years ago when their team was faced with exactly the same situation and some of the players who failed to keep the team up are still in the side today. Fair enough, they bounced back fighting the following season and achieved promotion from the Championship via the play-offs, but now they really must scrap in order to stay in England’s top flight.

This season it looks as though the race to achieve that all important 40-point mark that generally guarantees safety is going to be an epic showdown and there are still a number of teams that could find themselves in the bottom three come the end of the season. To get an overview you can visit 32red on mobile here and see odds of 3/10 at the time of writing on Norwich being relegated. Meanwhile, 32red, bet365, and Betway also have Newcastle United at 4/7 to go down while Sunderland are generally 1/2. The question is, do Alex Neil’s men have what it takes to rise above the competition?

The Stats

One of the overwhelming stats that fails to offer much encouragement is the fact that Norwich are desperately lacking a goal threat. There is no out-and-out striker and Nathan Redmond is the top scorer as of early March with five goals from midfield. Steven Naismith seemed like a fairly good signing at the time and after scoring a goal and assisting another on his debut it looked as though he might turn things around. Since then, though, he has been quiet and has certainly not lived up to his £8.5million transfer fee.

The team need goals to survive, but they also need to keep them out. The defence has been atrocious during this campaign and they are nearly on a par with basement dwellers Aston Villa for goals conceded. They have managed to tighten up a bit in recent weeks, but some of the landslide defeats suffered in January could have caused irreparable damage.

The Fixtures

There are some truly tough fixtures coming up for the Canaries between now and the end of the season. After already losing a crucial bottom-of-the-table clash against Aston Villa, they will need to produce the goods in vital matches against Newcastle United, Crystal Palace, and Sunderland next month. Anything less than wins in these matches will not be enough, unless Norwich manage to produce spectacular wins against teams closer to the top of the table. In the final three weeks they face Arsenal, Manchester United and Everton.

The Competition

Looking at the other teams who could potentially face the drop doesn’t make for great reading for Norwich fans. Aston Villa look almost certainly doomed and Newcastle have not been great. Although reports suggest that Newcastle have been in talks with David Moyes as a potential replacement for Steve McClaren, and with the quality of players available, a new manager may well be able to put a string of wins together.

Sunderland had somewhat of an upturn in form under Sam Allardyce and made some excellent signings in January. With Jermain Defoe having an exceptional season as well, it looks as though they will be able to dig in. But Crystal Palace are slipping the other way. They are the only team not to have recorded a win in 2016 and if this form continues, they will be relegated.

Swansea are another team languishing at the wrong end of the table, but they have hit form just when it matters and their squad is certainly strong enough to get enough points needed for survival.

So are Norwich doomed to spend another season in the Championship? Things really aren’t looking good for them. Now is the time for them to show some passion. They have the ability to put a last-minute surge together and grind out some results. Fans can take solace in the fact that teams have been in worse situations than this is recent years and found a way out of it. Nevertheless, it is sure to be an intense, nail-biting run-in to the end of this fascinating Premier League season.