Norwich City vs. Man United
Venue: Carrow Road
Kick off: 12:45pm
Time is running out for Norwich City and Manchester United to secure their respective goals for the season.
They will meet at Carrow Road on Saturday (today) at lunchtime, both with deficits to make up, which means that the stage has been reached where a defeat is likely to prove fatal for either side.
While the North-East duo of Newcastle United and Sunderland appear to be making a decent fist of their fights against relegation, the same cannot be said of Norwich.
With that in mind, it will be little surprise to learn that only a hapless Aston Villa side (27) have scored fewer goals this season than Norwich (35).
On top of that, their home form ahead of Man United’s visit does little to boost confidence levels.
In 2016, just two victories have been picked up from eight matches.
It will all come to a head today if fifth-placed United are defeated by Norwich and neighbours Manchester City collect all three points from their home encounter against Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium 24 hours later.
If that happens, United will mathematically be out of the Champions League hunt.
On the flip side, were United to emerge victorious and the Gunners do them a favour by winning, there would be just one point separating the two Manchester clubs and crucially, Luis Van Gaal’s men would have a game in hand – away at West Ham United on Tuesday night.
To keep their top-four hopes alive, United will have to arrest some poor form on the road. Since November 28, the Red Devils have won just twice away from home – a run that dates back 10 matches (five losses).
Norwich possible starting lineup: Ruddy, Pinto, Martin, Bassong, Olsson, Redmond, Howson, O’Neil, Brady, Naismith, Mbokani.
Man United possible starting lineup: De Gea, Valencia, Smalling, Blind, Rojo, Carrick, Schneiderlin, Lingard, Rooney, Martial, Rashford.