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

Norwich City will be looking to extend their four-game unbeaten run when they welcome Watford to Carrow Road for Monday’s Championship encounter.

Meanwhile, the Hornets, who are unbeaten in five matches. will be looking to record a third consecutive victory in their final outing of 2025.

Match preview

Norwich have enjoyed an upturn in fortunes since former Rangers boss Philippe Clement took over the reins in November.

Clement has overseen three wins, three draws and two defeats in his opening eight matches, including a return of six points from the club’s last four outings.

Norwich drew with Sheffield United and Preston North End, either side of a 2-1 home success against Southampton, before they recorded a narrow victory against Charlton Athletic on Boxing Day.

Jovon Makama’s fourth goal in three matches proved enough to fire Norwich to a third consecutive home victory.

Despite enjoying a promising run of results, Norwich are still languishing in 23rd place in the Championship table, with a point separating them from safety ahead of the final round of fixtures in 2025.

The Canaries are looking to record a third consecutive home victory against Watford after winning 4-2 and 4-1 in their previous two head-to-head home meetings in 2024.

Watford will travel to Carrow Road in high spirits after winning three and drawing two of their previous five matches since losing to Birmingham City at the start of the month.

They started that unbeaten run with a dramatic victory in the reverse fixture against Norwich City, which saw them come from 2-1 down to claim a 3-2 win at Vicarage Road.

Javi Gracia’s side went on to draw back-to-back games against Sheffield Wednesday and Wrexham, before they returned to winning ways with a 1-0 home success against Stoke.

Another victory followed in the Boxing Day clash against Leicester City, with Othmane Maamma equalising on the stroke of half time before Matthew Pollock scored his first goal of the season to secure a 2-1 win at the King Power Stadium.

The eighth-placed Hornets, who are just a point adrift of the playoffs, will now look to record back-to-back Championship away wins for the first time since December 2023.

They are also aiming to claim a league double over Norwich City for the first time since the 2022-23 campaign, when they followed a 2-1 home win with a 1-0 away success.

Norwich City Championship form:

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Watford Championship form:

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Team News

Norwich attacker Amankwah Forson will miss a second consecutive game after picking up a hamstring injury against Preston.

The Canaries are also without Shane Duffy, Gabriel Forsyth, Jeffrey Schlupp, Papa Amadou Diallo and Ante Crnac.

USA international Josh Sargent remains a doubt after missing the last three matches with a concussion.

As for the visitors, they remain without the injured quartet of Caleb Wiley, Kwadwo Baah, Rocco Vata and Jack Grieves.

Edo Kayembe and Mamadou Doumbia are away at the Africa Cup of Nations, representing DR Congo and Mali, respectively.

Nestory Irankunda could come into Gracia’s thinking if the Watford boss opts to make a minor alteration to his side.

Norwich City possible starting lineup:

Kovacevic; Fisher, McConville, Darling, Chrisene; McLean, Mattsson; Springett, Wright, Schwartau; Makama

Watford possible starting lineup:

Selvik; Ngakia, Pollock, Alleyne, Bola; Irankunda, Kyprianou, Louza, Maamma; Chakvetadze, Kjerrumgaard

We say: Norwich City 2-2 Watford

Norwich may have won their last three home matches, but they are set to face a Watford side that have lost just once in their past five away games, and with that in mind, we think the Canaries' winning home run will end with a draw on Monday.

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