Norwich City play host to Swansea City on Saturday afternoon knowing that victory will all but guarantee their place in the Championship playoffs.
Meanwhile, a resurgent Swansea make the long trip to Carrow Road looking for the win that will strengthen their bid to finish in the top half of the standings.
Match preview
Although Norwich were able to extend their long-standing unbeaten home run against Bristol City last weekend, a 1-1 draw has dented their playoff ambitions.
David Wagner's side have incredibly not lost a league game at Carrow Road since November 5, yet dropping points versus the Robins has brought other teams into play.
On a positive note, the Canaries are now level on points with fifth-placed West Bromwich Albion, but Hull City's 3-2 victory over Coventry City in midweek has left a gap of just three points to seventh.
The fixture list looks relatively kind to Norwich, with a trip to struggling Birmingham City to come, although just two wins have come from five games, despite putting together a four-match unbeaten run.
While Norwich are searching for their 16th success at the East Anglian base on Saturday, they face opponents who are producing one of their best runs of form all season.
Luke Williams has proven that he is the right man for the job in South Wales by guiding the club away from any kind of a relegation scrap after an indifferent start.
Victories - with clean sheets - have been recorded against Stoke City, Rotherham United and Huddersfield Town respectively, Swansea scoring a total of eight goals.
Despite the level of opposition naturally being taken into consideration, the manner of how the Swans disposed of Huddersfield on away territory last weekend only bodes well for the future.
Prevailing 4-0 at the John Smith's Stadium also ended a run of four games without success on their travels, with Swansea now boasting the 10th-best away record in the division.
Team News
Having proven his fitness over two substitute appearances, Jonathan Rowe is pushing for a recall to the Norwich attack.
Jacob Sorensen is also in a similar situation, although the defensive-minded player will likely remain among the replacements.
Dimitris Giannoulis, Liam Gibbs and Onel Hernandez are all expected to miss out through injury.
Three players came off the substitutes' bench to score for Swansea at Huddersfield, with Liam Walsh, Jerry Yates and Jamal Lowe all in line for recalls.
However, the visitors remain without at least five players, including the likes of Harrison Ashby and Joe Allen, due to injury.
Norwich City possible starting lineup:
Gunn; Stacey, Duffy, Gibson, McCallum; Nunez, McLean; Sara, Barnes, Rowe; Sargent
Swansea City possible starting lineup:
Rushworth; Key, Cabango, Darling, Tymon; Walsh, Grimes; Ronald, Paterson, Lowe; Yates
We say: Norwich City 2-1 Swansea City
This has the makings of an entertaining encounter given that Swansea have been one of the form teams in the division over the past couple of weeks. However, we cannot ignore Norwich's home form, leading us to predict a hard-earned triumph for the Canaries.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
body check tags ::
Previews by email
