I’m going to take a deep dive into one of my favorite leagues, the English Championship, and have a close look at the League leaders Norwich’s visit to relegation-haunted Sheffield Wednesday in front of the Sky TV cameras this Sunday lunchtime.
The Hillsborough side started the season as one of the favorites for the drop with a 12-point deduction giving them a mountain to climb under the leadership of Garry Monk, the reigns were soon taken from him, however, and passed to what seemed a shrewd appointment in Tony Pulis.
A reign of just 10 games producing a solitary win will not go down as the veteran managers greatest body of work but with six points reinstated after appeal and a steadying of the ship under caretaker manager Neil Thompson the Yorkshire outfit moved out of the bottom three after a win over basement rivals Wycombe.
However, a 3-2 defeat at Luton having taking a 2-0 lead in to the half time interval prompted owner Dejphon Chansiri to act again – this time tempting Darren Moore to swap a League One promotion campaign with Doncaster Rovers for a relegation battle with his side and become the third permanent manager of the campaign, the ninth in the last decade.
Unfortunately for long suffering Owls fans there has been no sign of a new manager bounce as yet, with back-to-back defeats for Moore, including a disastrous 2-1 home loss to 10-men relegation rivals Rotherham, extending their losing streak to six successive games in total leaving them a precarious seven points from safety with 12 games to go.
The last side they would wish to be playing next is Champions elect Norwich who in stark contrast to their hosts sit 10 points clear at the top with continuity and consistency their buzz words.
There was talk of a wobble last month after surrendering top spot to Brentford, but putting that blip into context it amounted to two draws and a defeat – with that loss coming away at one of their promotion rivals Swansea so no disgrace there!
In response to their doubters, the Canaries have won seven successive league games including a victory over then closest rivals Brentford whose boss Thomas Frank promptly conceded the title to them.
In truth, with the side they have Norwich should be at the top end of the table – but that is taking nothing away from how Daniel Farke has gone about his work and gotten his side to shake off a relegation hangover in sensational style.
It was vital to add fresh blood to the group and three new signings have impressed.
Ben Gibson cost Burnley a reported £15m before falling out of favour at Turf Moor and at still only 28, has rediscovered the form that made him an England international as recently in 2015.
Not just defensively but in driving forward with the ball and displaying excellent passing to link defence to midfield or attack in advanced areas up the pitch beyond an opposition high press – although he is a doubt on Sunday with a hamstring strain, he will definitely add to his tally of one assist before the season is out.
Oliver Skipp has earned rave reviews starting every one of Norwich’s 35 league games, playing an incredible total of 3,043 minutes at an average of 87 minutes per match some feat in this most congested of campaigns for such an all-action midfielder.
January statement of intent signing Dimitris Giannoulis is Greece’s first choice left-back – ahead of Liverpool’s summer signing Konstantinos Tsimikas and has added much needed balance and pace down the left side providing one assist whilst firing off eight shots (two on target) from his nine appearances so far – in which his side have won seven (D2, L0), kept seven clean sheets and conceded just two goals.
The £6m fee due if/when Norwich return to the EPL is a sum most of their Championship rivals can only dream about in the current climate.
On the other side Max Aarons, like Skipp, is an ever present with 3,148 league minutes under his belt this campaign and likely to be playing UCL football next season with Barcelona’s approach knocked back before signing Sergino Dest. European and World Club Champions Bayern Munich also have expressed interest along with several sides at the top end of the EPL.
Another hot property is Emi Buendia, who Norwich have resigned to losing to an elite club in the next window for a big fee, to use a basketball term, he is the only player in the league to have registered a double-double this season already – 10 goals, 10 assists.
The aforementioned “blip” coincided with a two-game suspension for the 24-year-old and the seven games since returning to the side has seen him contribute three goals and four assists but what cannot be underestimated is his telepathic relationship with top scorer Teemu Pukki.
Pukki’s brace in last weekend’s 3-0 victory over Luton took his tally for the season to 20 and meant he is only the third player in Championship history to have reached that landmark in successive campaigns in the division joining Dwight Gayle and Tammy Abraham in the record books.
The Finnish player of the year has slammed nine goals in his last seven games, no surprise that synchs with Buendia’s inclusion in the starting eleven – which has seen four of those goals laid on by the Argentinian.
It is the top connection in the league with seven of Pukki’s goals being assisted by Buendia in total.
Putting a Norwich win together with Teemu Pukki to score at any time gives odds of 2.20 using Paddy Power’s Bet Builder and is worth a 1-unit play.
Focusing just on Pukki the 2.20 on offer from Paddy/Betfair for 2 or more shots on target looks worth a unit as he has crossed that line in six of those last seven games – he has hit 3+ in three and odds of 4.5 are appealing but for my final 0.5 unit play I am going for the highest line of 4+ as achieved last time out against Luton at nice odds of 12.0.
Wrighty.
Best Bets
Norwich to win and Teemu Pukki to score (1 Unit @ 2.20 Paddy Power)
Teemu Pukki to have 2 or more shots on target (1 Unit @ 2.20 Paddy Power)
Teemu Pukki to have 4 or more shots on target (0.5 Units @ 12.0 Paddy Power)
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