Norwich City vs Manchester City, Premier League Matchday 5: Team News, Preview and Prediction

Competition/Round: 2019/20 English Premier League – Matchday 5

Date/Time: Norwich City vs Manchester City – Saturday, 14 September 2019, 17:30 GMT (UK); 12:30 EST, 09:30 PST (USA)

Venue: Carrow Road, Norwich, England, UK

Match Officials:

Referee: Kevin Friend

Assistants: Matthew Wilkes, Sian Massey-Ellis

Fourth Official: Peter Bankes

VAR: Anthony Taylor

Assistant VAR: Gary Beswick

TV Info: Sky Sports Main Event (UK); NBC USA (USA)

Live Stream: SKY GO Extra (UK); NBC Sports Live, Fubo.tv (USA) Fubo.tv shows every Manchester City game with a high-quality and legal stream. New to Fubo.tv? Click here to sign up for a discounted rate.

Radio: BBC Radio Manchester (UK); TalkSport Radio World (USA)

Preview:

After an entertaining international break, the English Premier League has returned. Norwich City will host Manchester City on EPL Matchday 5. The game will be played on Saturday.

Team News:

Norwich City are without the injured Christoph Zimmermann, Grant Hanley, Onel Hernández, Timm Klose and Tom Trybull. Patrick Roberts, who is on loan from Manchester City, is unavailable for this match per the loan policies.

Manchester City’s Aymeric Laporte, Gabriel Jesus and Leroy Sané are injured and will not feature in this match. Benjamin Mendy and John Stones have returned from their respective injuries.

Possible Lineups:

Norwich City

Formation: 4-2-3-1

Krul; Aarons, Amadou, Godfrey, Lewis; Leitner, Vrančić; Cantwell, Stiepermann, Buendía; Pukki

Manager: Daniel Farke

Manchester City

Formation: 4-3-3

Ederson; Cancelo, Stones, Otamendi, Mendy; De Bruyne, Fernandinho, D. Silva; B. Silva, Agüero, Sterling

Manager: Pep Guardiola

Prediction:

Norwich City were relegated from the EPL to the Championship during the 2015/16 EPL season, and they have had a rude awakening ever since returning to the top flight of English football this season. They have won only one of their four opening matches and have lost the other three. The Canaries have shown some positive spells during this period, however, and will look to replicate this as they take on a difficult Manchester City side. Norwich’s Teemu Pukki has found his stride at the start of this season, however, and with a shake-up in the Manchester City defence, Norwich will be sure to put City’s defence to the test. Finally, history may be on Norwich’s side as the last two meetings between these two clubs at Carrow Road ended in 0-0 draws.

Manchester City, on the other hand, will look to extend their strong start. The Sky Blues have scored 14 goals in their opening four games, and currently look unstoppable. An injury to Aymeric Laporte, however, will cause some concern in defence as the Sky Blues are short on options in the back. The likely pairing would see Nicolás Otamendi with John Stones, but some have tipped Fernandinho to slot in as a centre back during Laporte’s injury spell. Nonetheless, Manchester will rely on their strong offence to put this match out of reach for the home side.

Overall, given Pukki’s form and a Manchester City defence without Laporte, Norwich City look destined to score in this match. What will matter is how the visitors respond, and given their talent up front, it is hard not to back an away win. The home side will provide some problems for visitors, but by full time it is predicted Manchester City will continue their unbeaten run this season.

Norwich City 1-4 Manchester City