Norwich City and Queens Park Rangers square off at Carrow Road on Wednesday evening with just two points separating the clubs in the Championship standings.
That is despite contrasting talk regarding their respective managers, but both teams currently occupy spots in the playoff places.
Match preview
© Reuters
While Dean Smith did not necessarily enter Saturday's game against Stoke City with it being regarded as a must win, he would have understood that there may have been repercussions if his side went a seventh match without success.
Fortunately for Smith, his Canaries side delivered, collecting a 3-1 victory over the Potters with the only disappointment being conceding a last-minute consolation goal.
Aaron Ramsey starred on his return to the starting lineup, and Smith will take the positives from Norwich not having to rely on the likes of Teemu Pukki and Josh Sargent for their goals.
Now sitting back in fifth position and with the opportunity to move ahead of their third-placed opponents, Norwich have the opportunity to kick-start their campaign and challenge again for automatic promotion.
However, the East Anglian outfit remain just three points ahead of 11th spot, highlighting the need for a consistent run in the three matches before the World Cup.
© Reuters
From QPR's perspective, everything was trending in the right direction as they travelled to Birmingham City last week, both on and off the pitch with Michael Beale having turned down the chance to join Wolverhampton Wanderers.
However, a 2-0 reverse at St Andrew's and a second successive away defeat leaves the Hoops five points adrift of leaders Burnley and with just a four-point cushion over seventh place.
Beale may deem such calculations to be irrelevant at this stage, but the small margin for error means that there can be no complacency within a group that have also won six of their last nine matches.
To their credit, QPR had earned maximum points from four of their opening seven away games before the recent double setback, yet they will acknowledge the size of the task in front of them with Norwich having collected 17 points from their nine encounters at Carrow Road this campaign.
Team News
© Reuters
Smith made the bold decision to make notable changes to his Norwich XI on Saturday, yet he may not name an unchanged starting lineup.
Max Aarons, Marcelino Nunez and Todd Cantwell will all be considered for recalls to the side, while Sargent will hope to shake off a calf injury.
Norwich are boosted by the return of midfielder Kenny McLean, who has served a three-match suspension for his red card against Luton Town.
Jake Clarke-Salter, Stefan Johansen and Tyler Roberts are all injury doubts for QPR after their withdrawals during the Birmingham defeat.
Rob Dickie is on standby to replace Clarke-Salter, while Luke Amos appears most likely to take the spot of Johansen.
Either Sinclair Armstrong or Taylor Richards will deputise for Roberts, who suffered a recurrence of a calf injury.
Norwich City possible starting lineup:
Gunn; Aarons, Hanley, Gibson, McCallum; Hayden, Nunez; Cantwell, Ramsey, Hernandez; Pukki
Queens Park Rangers possible starting lineup:
Dieng; Laird, Balogun, Dickie, Paal; Amos, Field, Iroegbunam; Armstrong, Dykes, Chair
We say: Norwich City 1-1 Queens Park Rangers
On the back of losing last time out, Beale knows that he needs to get a response out of his QPR side. While we expect that to happen, Norwich could build from the win over Stoke, leading us to predict a competitive share of the spoils.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Darren Plant
