Match Preview: Norwich City v Brighton

Thanks to a combination of Brighton & Hove Albion’s good form since the Premier League restart and the bottom five’s inability to string any sort of results together, the Seagulls go to Norwich City knowing that three points will all but guarantee top flight survival.

Easier said than done, of course. Plenty of Albion supporters seem to thinking victory away at the division’s bottom club is a formality, leaving us with more to celebrate on July 4th than just the pubs reopening.

That conveniently forgets that Brighton don’t have a great record away from home against struggling opponents. We have already lost at Aston Villa and Plucky Little Bournemouth this season; Fulham and Cardiff last season; West Bromwich Albion and Huddersfield Town in 2017-18.

Draws with West Ham United, Stoke City and Southampton were hardly impressive results either. No, this is exactly the sort of game which the Albion have within them to make a complete cock up of – as our Norwich City versus Brighton match preview is about to explain.

A brief history of Norwich City
Norwich City were formed in 1902 and they have led a very similar existence to Brighton. Both clubs represent cities with a thirst for football, both spent most of their early existence bouncing around the lower leagues and both have had a couple of spells in the top flight.

The Canaries differ slightly in that they have actually made an impression in the Premier League at one point in their history. That came in the late 1980s and early 1990s. They reached a couple of FA Cup semi finals around that time, finishing third in the top flight in the 1992-93 season after spending most of the campaign as shock challengers to Aston Villa and Manchester United.

Those exploits saw them qualify for the UEFA Cup in 1993-94, where they famously became the first – and only – English team to a beat Bayern Munich in the Olympic Stadium.

Norwich City this season
This is Norwich’s first season in the Premier League since 2015-16 and it has followed a sadly predictable pattern for the Canaries. They have won promotion to the top flight three times this century, but each spell has been brief as they have taken a prudent approach to survival, never wanting to spend the money required to survive having seen what has happened to the long-term future of other clubs who went big in a bid to become an established part of the elite.

It leads to a frustrating circle for Norwich fans. They endure a soul destroying experience in the top flight, end up relegated, have a few seasons back in the Championship, develop a renewed thirst for the Premier League and eventually win promotion back. The circle then kicks off all over again.

There seems little prospect of Daniel Farke’s class of 2020 breaking the pattern. Norwich sit rock bottom of the table, six points adrift of safety and with relegation almost certain to be confirmed in the next couple of weeks.

Brighton’s head-to-head record with Norwich City
Unlike most match preview pieces this season, we don’t actually have a fully written up history of Brighton versus Norwich City. What we do know is that the sides have met 91 times. The Albion have won 31, Norwich 33 and there have been 24 draws.

The majority of those games came in Division Three South, where we were regular opponents throughout the 1920s and 1930s. The Canaries played at the time at a stadium built into a giant chalk pit called the Nest. A quick Google image search reveals that it looks absolutely incredibly with stands propped up against rock faces.

Sadly, the Football Association deemed the Nest to be unsafe and so forced its closure in 1935. Norwich built Carrow Road as a replacement in just 82 days. It was described as “the largest construction job in the city since the building of Norwich Castle”, although the redevelopment of the Linton Travel Tavern and the pedestrianisation of Norwich High Street have since proved worthy rivals to that title.

Last six meetings
• Brighton 2-0 Norwich City (Premier League, 02/11/19)
• Norwich City 2-0 Brighton (Championship, 21/04/17)
• Brighton 5-0 Norwich City (Championship, 29/10/16)
• Brighton 0-1 Norwich City (Championship, 03/04/15)
• Norwich City 3-3 Brighton (Championship, 22/11/14)
• Brighton 1-2 Norwich City (League One, 13/02/10)

Brighton have a relatively decent home record against Norwich in recent times, having won the last two while plundering seven goals. At Carrow Road it is a very different story, however – which is why our Norwich versus Brighton match preview comes with a caveat of caution for Seagulls fans.

You have to go back to Boxing Day 2002 for the Albion’s previous victory in Norfolk, a 1-0 success delivered by a goal from a flamed haired teenager called Steve Sidwell.

Brighton’s last trip to was a particularly chilling experience. Victory would have given Chris Hughton’s men the Championship title. Instead, David Stockdale managed to score two own goals inside of 20 minutes when shots from one-time Albion target Alex Pritchard rebounded off the woodwork and hit Stockdale in the back of the head to go in.

How we all laughed. Until Brighton then lost at home to Bristol City and drew with Aston Villa to blow a seven point lead and hand Newcastle United the silverware.

Team news
Graham Potter said in his Thursday press conference that Adam Webster should be fit after missing the 3-0 defeat to Manchester United. Handsome Davy Propper was withdrawn with a tight calf at half time against the Red Devils, but Potter expects him to make it to Carrow Road too.

What team the Albion boss selects is anybody’s guess. We have said in virtually every match preview this season that it is a futile task trying to predict a Brighton lineup and that seems more true than ever for the trip to Norwich, given what we saw on Tuesday night against United.

Tariq Lamptey playing on the right wing after a man-of-the-match debut at right back and long balls pumped up to a Hobbit-sized lone striker resembled a Mark McGhee tactical disaster class after one too many pints of whiskey.

The defenders of Potter’s plan say that he was resting players for the far more important task at hand at Carrow Road. It will be interesting to see what sort of selection and tactics Potter opts for and the result it delivers.

After all, putting all your eggs in one basket by effectively conceding defeat in one game to focus on another is a risky business, especially if that game does then not provide a result.

Norwich City’s key players
Most of the focus from pundits and opposition fans has been on Norwich’s bright, young, exciting, homegrown talents. The likes of Todd Cantwell and Max Aarons are sure to have Premier League suitors should the Canaries find themselves back in the Championship next season while Teemu Puki has hit 11 goals, thanks in part to a blistering start to the campaign.

Speak to Canaries fans though and they will highlight the contribution of another, very underrated man – Tim Krul. As Norwich site My Football Writer told us in our opposition match preview, the former Brighton goalkeeper has been superb and will in all likelihood win their Player of the Season award.

We have always liked Krul, who was the perfect professional in his one season at the Amex. The Dutchman was unable to shift Maty Ryan from the number one spot and thus didn’t play a minute of league football for Brighton, but his arrival as a genuine challenger for Ryan brought out the best in the Socceroo and Krul deputised ably in the cups.

After a number of years in which he struggled to find first team football, it is good to see him thriving once again at a club where he is clearly appreciated.

A good WeAreBrighton.com memory of Norwich City away
We did say earlier in this match preview that Brighton have a shocking recent record at Norwich. The trip to Norfolk in November 2014 was very much the exception to the rule when there was a thrilling 3-3 draw between the sides, one of the few highlights of Sami Hyypia’s reign of terror.

Bruno, Kazenga LuaLua and Adrian Colunga were all on target in a pretty breathtaking 90 minutes. It is one of the few occasions on which we have actually gone to Norwich on a Saturday, the fixture list having otherwise been a bit of a bastard in arranging one of the better away days in the country for midweek on a frequent basis.

A bad WeAreBrighton.com memory of Norwich City away
Where do you want us to start? We have covered the Stockdale own goal evening. Prior to that, there was a 4-1 defeat on a Tuesday night early in Gus Poyet’s reign and a 3-0 battering on February 14th 2006. Driving for four midweek hours along a single lane road to watch your team hammered away at Norwich on Valentines Day is a more soul destroying experience than waking up next to Katie Hopkins.

Then there was the FA Cup Third Round tie at Carrow Road in the 2002-03 season when, 10 minutes before kick off, the floodlights stopped working. After sitting around for an hour while Norwich tried to find 50p to stick in the metre, it was decided to postpone the tie, rendering another long trip to Norfolk as completely pointless.

Those who braved the journey again 10 days later were treated to a 3-1 Tuesday night defeat and the end of Michel Kuipers’ seasons as his leg exploded while taking a goal kick. Grim, grim, grim.

Our favourite player to play for Brighton and Norwich City
Andrew Crofts represented both clubs, leaving Withdean in the summer of 2010 to join Norwich for £250,000. He helped the Canaries to promotion to the Premier League in his first season at Carrow Road before returning to the Amex on a free transfer two years later.

Crofts departed Brighton once again in 2015 but was re-signed last summer for a third time, this time for the Albion’s development squad. At the age of 35.

What we like about Norwich
Norwich’s list of past directors reads like a who’s who of C-list celebrities. Deliah Smith is one of their owners, as everyone knows for the time she drank too much cooking sherry and appeared on the pitch at half time to scream “LET’S BE ‘AVVVVVINNNNNNNGGGGGGG YOU” down a microphone at the shell shocked Norwich crowd.

Former Chancellor of the Exchequer and dance partner of Katya Jones, Ed Balls has also served as Norwich chairman. Hopefully, they continue this trend of famous officials and appoint Alison Hammond as chief executive, Stacey Dooley as first team coach and the bloke who played Silas in Hollyoaks as Finance Director.

Prediction
Watford on the opening day aside, Brighton’s travels to the bottom five this season have been a largely frustrating experience. We’re predicting a 1-1 draw – which nobody should mind too much given our historical record at Carrow Road and the fact it takes us a point closer to safety.