We continue to head towards the conclusion of the Sky Bet Championship season on Friday night when one match opens up the latest round of games when promotion chasing Burnley play host to Norwich City at Turf Moor.
Burnley have the opportunity to go back to the top of the table here but will be more eager to put more points between themselves and Sheffield United in third. Norwich probably need snookers to make the top six from here.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Football channel with the build-up beginning at 7.30pm ahead of the kick off which comes at 8pm.
Burnley
Burnley have been in the top three for the majority of the season but such is their defensive record this term they will probably think that they should earn automatic promotion this season. They are in the position where they know that if they win their final five matches then they will be a Premier League club once again and won’t need to worry about the end of season lottery which nobody will want to be involved in. They get the chance to pile the pressure on the other two teams involved in the automatic promotion picture here.
That in itself will its own pressure but they have handled that pretty well so far this season. Theirs in a record build on a strong defensive foundation. They are going to set records which probably won’t ever be beaten in that regard this term. In 41 Championship outings this season, Burnley have conceded just 12 goals. They haven’t always clicked going the other way but they have got the job done enough to have their destiny in their own hands, which is all a team wants at this stage of a season.
Norwich City
I think it is fair to say that whatever happens from here on in this will be another season of what might have been for Norwich City. Having made the play-offs last season that would have been the minimum expectation of them this time around but they are going need to win their last five matches and have absolutely everything go their way if they are to extend their campaign. It has to be said that at this stage neither scenario looks likely. Their season will most likely be mathematically done should they not win here.
Norwich certainly won’t have failed in the campaign because of a lack of goals. Only the leaders Leeds United have scored more than the Canaries in the Championship this season but only four sides have conceded more than the 56 that they have shipped and that is where the problem is. Injuries haven’t always helped but this Norwich side have been unable to repel opposition pressure enough over the course of the season. A run of one win in seven has come at exactly the wrong time for the Norfolk based side.
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Team News
Burnley go into the match with a few injury issues to address, the latest of which is Lyle Foster who has sustained a shoulder injury. He joins the likes of Bashir Humphreys, Jonjo Shelvey, Manuel Benson and Mike Tresor on the injured list for this one.
Injuries are a thing for Norwich going into this game as well. Ante Crnac and Callum Doyle are doubts while the likes of Ben Chrisene and Lewis Dobbin are long-term injury victims. Onel Hernandez was left out in midweek due to a disciplinary issue.
Betting
I expect Burnley to win this match if for no other reason than the motivation one but they are a little on the short side to me when you consider that they don’t score as many goals as I would want them to do if I was backing a team at odds on so I’m looking for a way to bump up the price to something a little more respectable. Usually I would look at under 3.5 goals but Norwich do score goals so I would like a bit of extra insurance. I looked at over 1.5 goals but while Norwich score I’d like the 1-0 on side so in the end Burnley to win and under 4.5 goals is the way I’m going to go about this one.
We all know about Burnley and their defensive record but even allowing for Norwich being much weaker defensively I would be surprised if this escalates into something which is too dramatic. Control is very much the Scott Parker mantra and once they are in front I would imagine Burnley will look to protect what they have rather than go after anything too dramatic. It is literally all about winning for them now. Norwich bring enough of a threat to put our goal line as high as possible but I expect Burnley to have too much in a game which shouldn’t be overly high scoring.
Tips
Back Burnley to win and under 4.5 goals for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Coral
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