Norwich City

Chris Goreham
BBC Radio Norfolk commentator

Image source, Rex Features

What do Norwich need?

Norwich have been playing right-wing roulette this season. Lots of players have been tried but it's the one position that no-one has nailed down.

Johannes Hoff Thorup doesn't seem to fancy Christian Fassnacht or Liverpool loanee Kaide Gordon. Onel Hernandez tends to be used as a substitute.

What sort of business are they likely to do?

Owner-to-be Mark Attanasio has told fans there is money available to spend. It comes with the caveat that it must align with the transfer policy outlined by sporting director Ben Knapper in the summer.

City have been working on reducing the age of the squad and bringing in talent they can develop and sell for a hefty profit.

How successful have they been in recent January windows?

Any transfer talk around Norwich City always comes with the health warning that January is a difficult time to do business.

Last year they only signed striker Sydney van Hooijdonk on loan from Bologna. He didn't start a game or score a goal. The 10 substitute appearances suggested he might not be a chip off the old block.

But then Harry Kane didn't score any goals for the Canaries during his loan spell in 2012 either and he turned out ok.

Are there likely to be any notable departures?

All eyes will be on Borja Sainz. Norwich don't want to sell in January but he is the Championship's hottest property and top scorer. He only has 18 months left on his contract so a big money bid would test the club's resolve.

A couple of experienced players, Grant Hanley and Ashley Barnes, are out of contract in the summer. They may be interested in moves if they don't get much game time over the festive period.

How key is the window?

Sainz would be difficult to replace so that's a situation that Norwich might prefer to face in the summer, especially if the Spaniard's hot streak continues.

The vibe around the club is that this is seen as the first season of a new project under Thorup. Any deals would be about improving the depth of the squad and increasing the options.

Attanasio has set a goal of getting into the Premier League within the next five years so January doesn't feel make or break.

Norwich City welcome Queens Park Rangers to Carrow Road on Sunday in a clash between two sides with very different records as of late.

QPR sit 17th in the Championship, four points adrift of the 12th-placed Canaries. But with just one loss in their previous eight matches, the Rs have closed the gap between themselves and their upcoming hosts, who on Boxing Day picked up their first win in five to halt a recent slide down the league table.

Sunday's visitors also emerged victorious from the last meeting between these two sides, which finished 3-0 in west London earlier this month.

• Norwich have lost just one of their last 19 home league games against QPR (W13 D5), losing 1-0 back in September 2008.

• QPR have scored just one goal in their last six league visits to Norwich City (D2 L4) with Bright Osayi-Samuel scoring a penalty in a 1-1 draw in 2020-21.

• Norwich have won their final league game in just one of the last 13 calendar years (D6 L6), beating Aston Villa in the Premier League in 2015.

• QPR have ended the year with a league win in just two of the last 13 calendar years (D6 L5), winning 2-1 at Wolves in 2016 and 2-1 at Bristol City in 2021.

• Queens Park Rangers have won just one of their last 25 away league games against sides beginning with N (D10 L14), winning 1-0 at Nottingham Forest in December 2018.

Phil Daley
Radio Norfolk sports editor

Image source, BBC Sport

Norwich City will have the comfort of a home game this Boxing Day as they welcome Millwall in the Championship on Thursday (15:00 GMT).

Head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup spoke to the media on Tuesday - here are some of the key points from his news conference:

• Goalkeeper Angus Gunn is free to play after not receiving a ban for misconduct in the match at QPR.

• No new injuries, but they will miss Jose Cordoba after his red card against Sunderland on Saturday.

• Thorup says the Canaries are vulnerable at defending set-pieces at the moment and it's something they are addressing.

• On their recent poor form, he said: "We need to be clever. Finding the balance between pushing and settling for what we are capable of at the moment."

• On Millwall: "They are one of those teams that you can't switch off for even a second because they will punish you."

Listen to commentary of Norwich City v Millwall with BBC Radio Norfolk FM and DAB on Thursday from 14:00 GMT.

Norwich welcome Millwall with a less than stellar record in the Championship of late.

The Canaries have lost three of their past four league games, drawing once during that period.

Milwall ended a winless run of their own in style on Saturday, sealing victory over Blackburn and ending Rovers' six-game winning streak.

• Norwich City are unbeaten in their last 20 home league matches against Millwall (W13 D7) since losing 3-0 back in 1968.

• Millwall are looking to win consecutive league games against Norwich for the first time since 2001 when they won at Carrow Road 4-0 during the second of two wins.

• Norwich City have lost their last five league games on Boxing Day, scoring just one goal in this run. Two of their last three wins on this day have come against Millwall, however – 2-0 in 2009 and 6-1 in 2014.

• Millwall are unbeaten in their last six Boxing Day matches (W4 D2) since losing 1-0 to Walsall in 2015.

• Josh Sargent has scored in each of his two home Championship appearances for Norwich against Millwall, scoring three goals in total.

Image source, Rex Features

Norwich City goalkeeper Angus Gunn will be available for their games over the festive period after being fined £4,500 for misconduct.

The Scotland international admitted behaving in an improper manner around the tunnel area during the half-time interval in the game against QPR earlier this month.

A disciplinary panel decided, however, that a fine was sufficient punishment.

Team-mate Kenny McLean received a four-match ban for violent conduct during the same game, which Norwich lost 3-0.

The 24th-minute incident was not seen by match officials but the suspension was imposed retrospectively.

Image source, Rex Features

Norwich City head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup said he was unhappy with the way his side played, particularly in the second half of their 2-1 defeat at Sunderland.

Thorup told BBC Radio Norfolk: "I am not satisfied with the second half. One thing is the goal, we conceded after a set piece, that can happen, but I'm not happy with the 20 minutes after that when we were not solid enough, not consistent enough, too hectic and take silly decisions."

The Norwich boss also criticised Jose Cordoba for getting sent off for a second yellow card in the 70th minute.

"Jose needs to be more clever in that moment," Thorup said.

"It's a big factor of the game because it's not bad for us to be 1-1 after 65 minutes, that's an ok result in a difficult place to go. We were threatening on the counter. That was not good enough and of course changed the game for us and for them.

"The red card changes a lot, we had to make changes and change the formation and system and everything becomes more open.

"You have to stay away from that challenge, you cannot give the ref the option (to send you off). We could all see he was just waiting for that moment.

"You have to be more experienced and professional than that so you don't give him the option. Unfortunately it changed the game too much for us."

Image source, Rex Features

Norwich City have extended the contract of midfielder Gabriel Forsyth until 2028 with an option for an additional year.

The 18-year-old joined the Canaries under-21s from Scottish Championship side Hamilton Academical in 2023 and made his senior debut at the beginning of this Championship season against Oxford United.

Glasgow-born Forsyth made seven appearances for Norwich before suffering a knee injury during their game against Cardiff in November that has kept him on the sidelines.

"It's an amazing feeling," Forsyth told the Canaries website., external

"The direction the club is going and the opportunities that I've been given, it's something I want to be a part of."

Sunderland are aiming to maintain the pace in the race for promotion as they host Norwich on Saturday.

The Black Cats are seeking to make it 11 home games unbeaten this season while the Canaries are winless in seven league games since September.

• Sunderland have lost just two of their past seven league games against Norwich City (W4 D1), though one of those defeats came in their last such meeting against the Canaries back in March (1-0)

• Norwich City have lost just one of their past six away league games against Sunderland (W2 D3), despite only scoring more than one goal in just one of those matches

• Sunderland are the only side in the Championship so far this season yet to concede a goal from a corner

• Norwich's 21 games in the Championship this season have seen 3.24 goals scored on average – the highest tally in the competition

• This season in the Championship, Norwich hold the best shot conversion rate of any side in the competition (15.3%); a tally substantially ahead of second-ranked Watford (11.9%)

Image source, Rex Features

Norwich City boss Johannes Hoff Thorup says the club's handling of goalkeeper Angus Gunn's FA charge for misconduct will depend on the evidence against the 28-year-old.

The FA claim Gunn "allegedly acted in an improper manner around the tunnel area at half-time" during the Canaries' Championship loss to QPR earlier this month.

"The most important for us is that we try to get an answer a couple of hours before kick-off," Thorup told BBC Radio Norfolk.

"They have the rights to dig into bad behaviour and if they feel it's bad behaviour, we have to look into it and see if we accept that or not. It comes down to the evidence."

Norwich have until Thursday, 19 December, to respond to the charge.

If found guilty, Gunn could face a ban which would make him the second player to receive a suspension from the same game, after Canaries captain Kenny McLean was handed a four-match ban for violent conduct.

Despite McLean's denial of the charges, the club did accept the decision to ban the midfielder, but Thorup feels that case was mishandled by the FA.

"We were not satisfied - especially with the treatment of us and Kenny in that particular situation - because we felt it was a decision being made too late," Thorup added.

"On the other hand, we have to accept that we are a football club playing in a league with rules we have to follow. If there's a case, there's a case."

Phil Daley
Radio Norfolk sports editor

Image source, BBC Sport

Norwich City are back on the road this weekend when they make the long trip to Sunderland in the Championship on Saturday (15:00 GMT).

Head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup spoke to the media on Wednesday - here are some of the key points from his news conference.

• Goalkeeper Angus Gunn could face a suspension following a charge of misconduct during the QPR defeat earlier this month. The club are preparing a response to the charge.

• Jacob Sorensen likely to be back after a minor injury - he'll be tested fully before the weekend.

• "Fine margins" made the difference in the defeat to Burnley on Sunday.

• On the January transfer window, Thorup says any home-grown targets will need to be younger players, because that's where the value is.

• Sunderland are the "best transition team in the league", according to Thorup.

You can listen to commentary of Sunderland versus Norwich City with BBC Radio Norfolk FM and DAB on Saturday from 14:00 GMT on Saturday.

Image source, Rex Features

Norwich midfielder Emiliano Marcondes admits his late opportunity to salvage a point in their 2-1 defeat by Burnley at Carrow Road will play on his mind.

The 29-year-old fired wide in stoppage time after the Canaries had squandered an early lead and fallen behind to goals by Zian Flemming and Josh Brownhill.

"I'm not going to be able to sleep because of that one," Marcondes told BBC Radio Norfolk.

"I tried to hit it harder at goal and when I hit it, I thought it was going in. But it was centimetres not going our way at both ends.

"We're not machines so obviously I'll think about it and also a lot of situations in the game - that's how it is. I'll analyse it a lot but I know I'll get over it."

Norwich remain 12th in the table after their defeat by the Clarets, having taken just one point from their last three games.

"We are devastated because for long spells of the game we frustrated them," Marcondes added.

"We should have been 2-0 up. In the second half we had a big chance on a corner and then they come back into the game out of nothing – from a very good goal, of course."

Norwich City will be seeking to get back on track as they welcome Burnley to Carrow Road on Sunday afternoon.

The Canaries sit 10th and have won just two of their past 11 in the Championship to fall off the pace in the play-off race.

The third-placed Clarets are unbeaten in seven but three draws in that run has seem them lose ground on leading duo Sheffield United and Leeds.

• Norwich have won just one of their past 10 league games against Burnley (D3 L6), failing to score in five of their past six matches against the Clarets.

• Burnley have won two of their past three away league games against Norwich (L1), as many as in their previous 16 visits (D3 L11).

• Norwich have already won 12 league games at Carrow Road in 2024, last winning more in a year in 2018 (13). They've scored at least three goals in five of their past seven league matches on home soil.

• Burnley are unbeaten in their past three away league games (W2 D1) and could equal a club record of four successive clean sheets in the league on the road, previously doing so in October 1980.

• Burnley have only conceded four goals in 10 away league games this season, becoming only the second side in Championship history (since 2004-05) to concede fewer than five goals in their first 10 away games of a season; the other was Reading in 2005-06 (three conceded).