Manchester United will face Norwich City in the Premier League at Carrow Road this evening. The match comes three days after the 1-1 draw against Young Boys in the final UEFA Champions League group stage match of the season with United winning the group and making the knockout stages of the competition. It was Ralf Rangnick’s second match in charge of the club and like Michael Carrick, he is so far undefeated with United winning three and drawing two of their last five matched post-Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. United will be expected to continue that run of form as they bid to get back in with a chance of challenging this season.
United current sit sixth in the Premier League table with 24 points, three points adrift of fourth place and 11 points adrift of the top spot, currently held by Manchester City. Norwich sit rock bottom in the league, earning just ten points in the 15 matches they have played this season, winning twice, drawing four times and losing nine times. They share the relegation places with Newcastle United (19th) and Burnley (18th) with Watford, who beat United 4-1 recently, sitting in 17th place, three points clear of the trio in the drop zone. Of course, this could all change before a ball is kicked at Carrow Road with five matches being played before this one.
Manchester United:
De Gea;
Dalot, Lindelof, Maguire, Telles;
Fred, McTominay;
Sancho, Fernandes, Rashford;
Ronaldo
Substitutes:
Heaton, Henderson; Bailly, Jones, Shaw; Lingard, Van de Beek; Greenwood, Elanga
Norwich City:
Krul;
Aarons, Kabak, Hanley, Giannoulis;
Sargent, McLean, Rupp, Gilmour, Placheta;
Pukki
Substitutes:
Gunn; Byram, Mumba, Tomkinson; Dowell, Cantwell, Sorensen, Lees-Melou; Idah
United and Norwich have met a total of 18 times in the history of the Premier League. United have won 14 times, drawn once with Norwich winning the remaining three matches. United have scored 35 goals, winning four penalties and scoring two of them. Norwich have scored 11 goals, winning no penalties. United have kept a total of 10 clean sheets with Norwich keeping two. United players have been shown a total of 15 yellow cards and no red cards in this fixture with Norwich players shown a total of 22 yellow cards and no red cards. United are in much better form than they were in early November and will seek to take advantage of the strugglers.
United and Norwich have a good history. Mike Phelan both played for Norwich. Brandon Williams is currently on loan at the club. Mike Haines (Technical Scout) and Matthew Lewis (Performance Analyst) both worked for United. Henning Berg is a scout for the Norfolk club. Robbie Brady, Steve Bruce, Jacob Butterfield, Luke Chadwick, Ritchie De Laet, Dion Dublin, David Fox, David Healy, Paul Heckingbottom, Rhodri Jones, Phil Mulryne, Alex Notman, Anthony Pilkington, Simon Ratcliffe, Mark Robins, Michael Rose, and Martin Russel all played for both clubs, some at youth level. David Beckham and Rio Ferdinand both had trials at Norwich.
Written by John Walker
