Norwich vs Southampton Prediction & Betting Tips - Championship

Prediction published on 30/12/2023, 08:30  by Devesh Jaganath | Modified on 01/01/2024 at 02:00 in Championship Prediction

Southampton will be looking to bolster their promotion hopes when they travel to face Norwich City in the Championship on New Year’s Day. The hosts are currently in 13th place in the league standings, while the visitors are third. Norwich began the season as one of the sides fancied to earn a playoff spot. However, things have not panned out as they would have hoped, with their 34-point tally leaving them five points behind Hull City in sixth place. The Canaries are coming into this match following back-to-back 1-0 road losses to West Bromwich Albion and Millwall on Friday night. Notably, though, they did put together a run of five matches unbeaten leading up to those defeats. At home Norwich have been much better and are unbeaten in their last four, winning three and drawing one. They also managed to keep three clean sheets in that time. The last time these sides met, the match ended as an eight-goal thriller, with both sides scoring four apiece. 

Meanwhile, after a sluggish start to the season, Southampton are well into their stride and look likely to challenge for automatic promotion. They are on 51 points after 25 matches and pulled within three points of Ipswich Town after the Tractor Boys were held to a stalemate by QPR in their last outing. The Saints claimed a 2-1 win over Plymouth Argyle on Friday night, marking their fourth consecutive league victory and 17th match unbeaten, including 12 wins and five draws. On the road, the Saints are unbeaten in their last eight games with four wins and four draws, though three of those draws came in their last four outings. Adam Armstrong scored twice in the reverse fixture and is second in the goal scorer standings this season with 12 to his name. The visitors are the favourites in this one according to the bookmakers.