3/1 To Win
Eight days. That’s all the separates Derby County from the first start of their new Sky Bet Championship season.
Since the middle of July, dcfc.co.uk has been profiling all of the clubs that the Rams are going to be coming up against over the course of the 2017/18 campaign.
After analysing a side that was recently relegated from the Premier League and another one that were promoted, we now turn our attentions to a club that appears to have taken a different direction after missing out on the play-offs last season…
Norwich City
Head Coach Daniel Farke
Nickname: The Canaries
Stadium Capacity: 27,244
Finishing Place Last Season: 8th (70 Points)
Top Scorer (2016/17): Cameron Jerome (16 Goals)
Promotion Odds (According to Coral): 3/1
When Do We Play The Canaries?
Home – Saturday 10th February 2018 (kick-off: 3pm)
Away – Saturday 28th October 2017 (kick-off: 3pm)
What Were The Scores Last Season?
Derby County 1-0 Norwich City
Norwich City 3-0 Derby County
How Did They Fare Last Season?
Last season didn’t end how it was planned for Norwich City.
With the nucleus of their 2014/15 promotion winning side still very much intact, and a couple of big name signings in Alex Pritchard and Nelson Oliveira added into the mix, the Canaries were, naturally, amongst the favourites to gain promotion.
They started pretty well too.
A run of six wins and two draws from their first nine games heightened expectations. Norwich were flying at the top of the league, but then came their first bump.
How crucial their 4-3 defeat to Newcastle United proved to be is anyone’s guess, but having led 3-2 heading into added time to eventually lost 4-3 was a bitter blow.
The Canaries won their two games straight after that, but then came the slump of a draw and five defeats in a row – culminating with their 1-0 loss at Pride Park Stadium. They had tumbled from the top of the league to eighth.
By the turn of the year they were twelfth and although things picked up from there to the middle of February, another run of bad results left attaining a play-off position a tall order.
It cost Alex Neil his job too and Alan Irvine was put in charge until the end of the season to steady at Carrow Road.
On the whole, he did that sufficiently and guided the Canaries to a notable 7-1 victory over play-off finalists Reading – a sign of just good this Norwich team could be on their day – and a comfortable 2-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion reaffirmed that.
Nevertheless, the end result after 46 games was that they finished 10 points adrift of the play-offs.
Off the back of that, a number of changes have been made as Norwich aim to show more consistency and remain promotion favourites for the forthcoming season.
Stuart Webber, formerly of Huddersfield Town, came in as sporting director. His main task was to appoint a new head coach to lead the Canaries into a new era. Daniel Farke, the German, is seen as that man.
