Two clubs focused on survival meet when Norwich City host Leicester City at Carrow Road on Saturday afternoon.

With both teams losing just once in their last six games, confidence should be high in each squad as Alex Neil prepares to meet Claudio Ranieri.

Norwich

Despite some mixed results in the early stages of the campaign, it seems unlikely that Neil will be feeling anything other than confidence after watching his players perform well since returning to the top tier of English football.

In truth, only the 3-0 defeat to Southampton could really be labelled as a bad performance and after just two losses in their opening seven games, the signs suggest that this squad have the tools required to avoid the drama of a relegation battle in the final weeks of the season.

Predictions in the first week of October would be unwise, but Neil must surely feel that his side have the resilience to go with some undoubted quality which will serve them well until May and if their strikers can find their form on a regular basis, a higher finish than 17th will certainly be the target.

However, the Canaries were left frustrated last week when Cheikhou Kouyate scored in stoppage time to clinch a 2-2 draw for West Ham United after the visitors appeared to have done enough to claim a second away win of the season.

Norwich now switch their focus to a run of three fixtures against Leicester, Newcastle United and West Bromwich Albion, with two of the games coming away from home. The unpredictable nature of the Premier League makes it difficult say what is coming, but that run will be seen as an opportunity for Neil's side to collect nine points.

A lack of an in-form striker may be a concern, but with only three sides conceding more in the league so far, Neil's defence will be challenged to improve as they look to trouble the teams in the top half of the table.

Recent form: WDLWDD
Recent form (all competitions): WLWDWD

Leicester

After weeks of conceding goals worryingly easily, but still managing to record positive results, a disappointing afternoon finally arrived for Ranieri's side last week as they slipped to an emphatic 5-2 loss to Arsenal at the King Power Stadium.

Jamie Vardy's own fine form continued with a brace, but the Foxes were no match for a Gunners attack creating opportunities with apparent ease as they watched Alexis Sanchez find his own shooting boots with a hat-trick.

Despite their vulnerabilities at the back, it was the first loss of a superb start to the season for Leicester and Ranieri, who has proved many of his critics wrong after being the surprise choice to replace the sacked Nigel Pearson at the start of the summer.

The Italian's methods appear to suit this squad full of hard workers and exciting attackers, but the challenge starts now for the former Chelsea boss as he looks to ensure the wheels do not come off after their fine run was ended with a heavy defeat.

Questions of resilience are unlikely to be directed at the players, who have come from behind on more than one occasion this season and Ranieri will be hopeful that the Foxes relish the test of getting back to their best this weekend.

Conceding 14 goals in seven league games is far from ideal, and while the impressive form of Vardy and Riyad Mahrez shows no sign of stopping, only an improvement at the back will prevent Leicester from sliding further down the table at some stage this season.

Recent form: WDDWDL
Recent form (all competitions): LDWDWL

Team News

Nathan Redmond was impressive off the Norwich bench once again this weekend and the winger looks set to be recalled, with Graham Dorrans a candidate to drop out of the starting lineup on Saturday.

Changes elsewhere appear unlikely for Neil's side, and Cameron Jerome should be handed the responsibility of leading the line once again.

Vardy is still wearing strapping to protect two broken bones in his wrist, but the injury will not prevent him from playing on Saturday and he has retained his spot in the England squad for their next two matches despite the problem.

There will be no return for Nathan Dyer, who only returned to training on Thursday after picking up a knock in the 3-2 win over Aston Villa.

Norwich possible starting lineup:
Ruddy; Whittaker, Martin, Bassong, Olsson; Howson, Redmond, Tettey, Brady; Hoolahan; Jerome

Leicester possible starting lineup:
Schmeichel; De Laet, Huth, Morgan, Schlupp; Mahrez, Inler, Drinkwater, Albrighton; Kramaric, Vardy

Head To Head

Saturday's fixture will be the first meeting between the two sides since an FA Cup clash in February 2012, when David Nugent's strike handed the Foxes a 2-1 victory at Carrow Road.

Leicester's last visit to Norfolk for a league game ended with a seven-goal thriller as Wes Hoolahan netted twice to earn Norwich a 4-3 Championship victory in September 2010.

Recent history has been kind to the Canaries, who have lost just one of the last 10 league meetings with Leicester.

Video Preview

Hit play below to see what the Sports Mole Sofa had to say about this encounter:

We say: Norwich 2-2 Leicester

It will be a challenge for Leicester to recover from their first loss of the season, but Ranieri's side always look capable of creating opportunities home and away. No clean sheets for either side suggests that there will be goals in what could be an entertaining fixture. It will come down to who defends better, but a draw is certainly a strong possibility between teams who look evenly matched on paper.