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

Fighting to escape their early-season nightmare, Norwich City welcome Leicester City to Carrow Road for a Championship clash on Saturday afternoon.

The Canaries could only manage a point at the home of Sheffield Wednesday last time out, while the Foxes shared the spoils with Middlesbrough in the East Midlands.

Match preview

Competing within the riches of the Premier League as recently as 2022, Norwich City have suffered a severe fall from grace over recent times, with Saturday afternoon's hosts staring a Championship relegation battle in the face after a troubling start to the 2025-26 term.

The Canaries extended their winless streak in the second tier to a sobering 10 matches earlier in the week, when a second strike of the campaign from summer arrival Matias Kvistgaarden cancelled out Barry Bannan's opener to force a share of the points at Sheffield Wednesday.

Ending a worrying rot of six consecutive defeats with the stalemate at Hillsborough on Wednesday night, Norwich moved up to nine points from their opening 14 matches but remain a lowly 22nd in the Championship rankings, four points behind Oxford United in the relative safety of 21st.

Failing to find the net since the Canaries' most recent success - 10 matches ago at the base of Blackburn Rovers - Joshua Sargent is struggling alongside his teammates, but the United States international managed an assist for the equalising goal last time out.

Setting an unwanted club record, Liam Manning's side have lost each of their opening six league home matches in a season for the first-time ever, with the East Anglian battlers last enjoying a triumph at Carrow Road against already-relegated Cardiff City on the last day of 2024-25 in early May.

Despite overarching concerns around a potential points deduction at the King Power Stadium, it was expected that Leicester City would still compete at the top of the Championship this campaign, but just four wins from their opening 14 have left the former Premier League champions floundering in mid-table.

The Foxes managed to end a three-game losing streak with a draw in the East Midlands with Middlesbrough on Tuesday night, although the hosts were mightily close to snatching all three points following Jordan Ayew's opener, before right-back Luke Ayling bagged a 96th-minute equaliser for the Teesside outfit.

Collecting a mere two points across their last five second-tier contests, Leicester are currently occupying 13th in the Championship standings ahead of this weekend's jaunt to East Anglia, five points behind the playoffs and nine points back from second-placed Stoke City.

Similar to the situation at Carrow Road, Leicester's leading marksman is also going through a period of struggle in front of net, with Premier League-linked Abdul Fatawu firing blanks in each of his last four appearances, with his most recent goal contribution arriving against Portsmouth on October 18.

A contest often played out under the top-flight spotlight during the latter part of the 2010s, Leicester are in the midst of a four-game winning run against Saturday's hosts, with Norwich's last victory in the matchup coming in February 2020 courtesy of a solitary Jamal Lewis strike.

Norwich City Championship form: L L L L L D

Leicester City Championship form: W D L L L D

Team News

Norwich have suffered a major injury blow in recent times, with wide attacker Ante Crnac now sidelined for the remainder of the campaign because of a serious knee injury.

Further back on the pitch, Lucien Mahovo has managed just two appearances for the struggling Canaries this term as he recovers from a hip issue.

Limiting options in the full-back department even more, Jack Stacey picked up a head injury during the latter stages of the October schedule.

Leicester are sweating over the fitness of first-choice goalkeeper Jakub Stolarczyk, who picked up a knock during the draw with Boro last time out.

As a result, there could be a change between the sticks for the visitors to Carrow Road, with 38-year-old Asmir Begovic preparing for his full Foxes debut.

Norwich City possible starting lineup:

Kovacevic; McConville, Duffy, Darling; Fisher, McLean, Topic, Schlupp; Makama, Schwartau, Sargent

Leicester City possible starting lineup:

Begovic; Okoli, Vestergaard, Nelson, Thomas; Winks, Skipp; Fatawu, James, Ayew; Daka

We say: Norwich City 1-2 Leicester City

After fighting to an uninspiring point at the base of Sheffield Wednesday earlier in the week, Norwich now face a daunting return to Carrow Road, looking to avoid seven straight league defeats at the venue.

Leicester are shooting themselves in the foot at the moment, but we feel that the Foxes could enjoy a positive turning point in East Anglia on Saturday.

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