Preview:Norwich City vs Hull City - prediction, team news, lineups

Norwich City boss Liam Manning will be desperate to alleviate some of the pressure building on his position when his team take on Hull City at Carrow Road on Saturday.

The Canaries are languishing in the Championship relegation zone, while the Tigers are in eighth place and just outside the playoffs on goal difference.

Match preview

After steering Bristol City to the playoffs last term, Manning would have been hoping to match or better that feat when he took over the reins at Carrow Road in the summer.

However, Manning currently finds himself in a relegation battle rather than a promotion fight, having overseen two wins, two draws and eight defeats across the first 12 league games.

In fact, the Canaries have taken just two points from eight Championship matches since they claimed their most recent win in an away game against Blackburn at the end of August.

Norwich's winless run began with draws on either side of a defeat to Wrexham, before they went on to suffer five consecutive defeats, including a 2-1 loss in last Saturday's away clash with Swansea City, which has left them in 23rd place and two points adrift of safety.

As a result, there have been some questions asked about Manning's position, although Norwich owner Mark Attanasio has insisted there is "no plan to sack Liam".

Manning will hope to kickstart the turnaround this weekend, and he may be able to take inspiration from the fact that the Canaries have won their last four home matches against Hull.

In contrast to Norwich, Hull will be in high spirits after putting together a five-game unbeaten run since losing to Watford on September 27.

The Tigers started that run of form with a draw against Preston North End, before they recorded three consecutive victories over Sheffield United, Birmingham and Leicester.

Sergej Jakirovic's side appeared to be on course to make it four successive wins after Joe Gelhardt opened the scoring in the first minute of the second period.

However, Charlton's Luke Berry netted a stoppage-time equaliser to ensure that Hull had to be content with a 1-1 home draw.

After being held at home, Hull will now head on their travels with hopes of claiming back-to-back away wins after picking up their first road victory of the season in their most recent away game against Birmingham City.

Hull are aiming to beat Norwich at Carrow Road for the first time since September 2010 after failing to win their last six head-to-head away meetings.

Norwich City Championship form:

D L L L L L

Hull City Championship form:

L D W W W D

Team News

Norwich striker Ante Crnac will miss the rest of the season after sustaining an anterior cruciate ligament injury in the defeat to Derby on October 21.

The hosts are also likely to be without Lucien Mahovo, Ben Chrisene, Shane Duffy, Jose Cordoba, Gabriel Forsyth, Anis Slimane and Papa Amadou Diallo.

Midfielder Jacob Wright could come into Manning's thinking after featuring as a substitute in the last two matches, including a half-time introduction in last Saturday's clash with Swansea.

As for the visitors, their injury list features Oli McBurnie, Mohamed Belloumi, Eliot Matazo, Kasey Palmer, John Lundstram and Akin Famewo.

Canada international Liam Millar is set to be out of action for around four weeks after picking up a hamstring injury in his substitute appearance against Charlton.

Forward David Akintola missed the draw with the Addicks with a back problem, but he could return to the bench at Carrow Road.

Norwich City possible starting lineup:

Kovacevic; Stacey, Medic, Darling, McLean; Mattsson, Wright; Makama, Gibbs, Schwartau; Sargent

Hull City possible starting lineup:

Pandur; Egan, Ajayi, Hughes; Drameh, Hadziahmetovic, Slater, Giles; Crooks; Joseph, Gelhardt

We say: Norwich City 1-2 Hull City

The two teams enter Saturday's fixture on the back of contrasting results, and we think, as the in-form side, Hull will lean on their extra confidence to claim a narrow win against a Norwich side that are lacking in belief following a run of five consecutive defeats.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.