Saturday 1st January 2011
Carrow Road Stadium
Npower Football League Championship
Referee: J Moss
Kick-off: 15:00
Norwich City (5th) V Queens Park Rangers (1st)
By The Godfather

Following two straight victories against Swansea and Coventry, Queens Park Rangers face Norwich City on New Year’s Day in another tense top-six clash. The Rs have already made their first signing of the transfer window, securing the services of Peter Vaagen-Moen on a free transfer. It will be interesting to see whether the Norwegian international is involved on Saturday afternoon: I expect he will probably be on the substitutes’ bench, since Warnock rarely changes a winning side.

Norwich City

Manager: Paul Lambert

Season 2009-10 finish: 1st place (League One Champions)

For some time it appeared that Norwich City would struggle in League One, suffering an embarrassing 7-1 defeat at the hands of local rivals, Colchester United, on the opening day of the season. However, following the appointment of Paul Lambert as manager, there was suddenly a real sense of stability and purpose about the Canaries. They eventually stormed to the league title, reclaiming their Championship status within a year.

During the summer, Lambert sought to bolster his squad with a number of proven Championship players, including the talented Andrew Surman. The club also managed to secure the services of young Gillingham striker, Simeon Jackson, who has a lot of talent and potential. In my WATRB Season Preview, I mentioned that I thought that these were astute signings and I felt that Norwich would achieve success in the 2010/11 campaign.

Norwich currently lie in 5th position: an impressive start to the season given that they were playing in the third tier only a year ago. Although the team poses a threat going forward, they can sometimes be vulnerable defensively. Hopefully QPR will be able to exploit these weaknesses on Saturday.

Man to watch

Grant Holt - The 29 year-old was instrumental in Norwich's promotion to the Championship, scoring an impressive total of 30 goals in all competitions last season. He has an abundance of experience in the Football League, having played for Sheffield Wednesday, Nottingham Forest, Blackpool and Shrewsbury. He is currently the club’s top scorer, having netted 11 times this season in all competitions. It is imperative that he is marked closely on Saturday afternoon.

Previous Match

October 2010 (extract from my match report) – “This was an entertaining encounter between two teams that have enjoyed excellent starts to the campaign. Although a draw was probably a fair result, both sides had superb opportunities to win the match, most notably when Wes Hoolahan sent his first-half penalty wide of the target. Once again, the Rs produced a robust defensive display, but only managed to open up Norwich's back four on a few occasions.

As Millwall did before the international break, the Canaries managed to prevent the Super Hoops’ star players, such as Taraabt and Mackie, from having a major influence on proceedings. To be frank, this did concern me a little. Could it be that our Championship rivals have worked out how to pick up points at Loftus Road? I do sense that Queens Park Rangers lack a “Plan B”, something that Warnock might be looking to address once the likes of Hulse and Faurlin recover fully from injury”.

Queens Park Rangers 0-0 Norwich City

Team News

The club won its appeal against Clint Hill’s red card, which means that he will be available for selection. After two decent performances against Swansea and Coventry, Heidar Helguson is likely to retain his place ahead of Rob Hulse. Norwich will be without two key defenders, Leon Barnett and Simon Lappin, both of whom are suspended.

Prediction

Both teams come into this match on the back of two consecutive victories. I expect that both managers will be looking to win the game and therefore it is likely to be a very lively and entertaining affair, as the fixture was at Loftus Road earlier in the campaign. However, I do think that Queens Park Rangers will be able to exploit the Canaries’ defensive weaknesses, particularly given that two of their key defenders will be missing. Therefore, I am going to predict a narrow victory for Warnock’s side.

Norwich City 1-2 Queens Park Rangers