please log in to view this image Round 4 please log in to view this image Southampton 3 - 0 Norwich CityPellè 45′ Tadic 64' 67'FT 90'+4' HT 1 - 0Attendance: 29,573 Date: Sunday 30th August 2015 Venue: St Mary's Stadium Kick-Off: 01:30PM KIO's not606 Match Preview Today sees Alex Neil's Norwich City side travel to the South Coast to take on Southampton in Round 4 of the Premier League season. The Saints have had an indifferent start to their campaign and sit third bottom of the early league table as we go into the weekend. An opening day 2-2 draw away at Newcastle was followed by a 0-3 defeat against Everton and a goalless stalemate against Watford both at the St Mary's Stadium. Southampton go into tomorrow's game on the back of being knocked out of the Europa League in the qualifying round by FC Midtjylland and will be looking to kick start their season against Alex Neil's charges. With regard to team news Victor Wanyama and Sadio Mane are likely to recover in time from a stomach infection and hip injury respectively, ex Canary loanee Fraser Forster and Ryan Bertrand remain out with knee injuries, while Jordie Clasie has a hamstring issue and is unlikely to feature. By contrast Norwich should be well pleased with their start this year, four points from their first three games and creating chances galore, the Canaries are placed comfortably mid table as we approach the international break. After an arguably undeserved home defeat at the hands of Crystal Palace on the first day, their second outing away at Sunderland at the Stadium of Light saw them put in a tremendous display of passing football against a poor Black Cats side and in truth City's 3-1 victory flattered the hosts. Stoke were City's next opponents but despite a second half onslaught on the Potters' goal the Canaries couldn't take one of the many chances they created and Stoke left Carrow Road with a share of the spoils, the match finishing in a 1-1 draw. For tomorrow the Canaries will be without Lewis Grabban who has been suspended by the club after walking out prior to the midweek League Cup win over Rotherham. He remains a City player for now but his days in a Canary shirt may well be numbered. please log in to view this image Ricky van Wolfswinkel on target midweek could feature Left wing back Martin Olsson returned to action in a 2-2 draw for the U21's this week playing the first 45 minutes but is unlikely to start, however he could take a place on the City bench. After getting on the score sheet midweek against the Millers there could also be place in the match day squad for Dutchman Ricky van Wolfswinkel, his close range effort turning out to be the winning goal at the New York Stadium. Youssouf Mulumbu and Kyle Lafferty remain injured and are definitely out. Ronald Koeman's Match Preview please log in to view this image Saints boss Ronald Koeman “Now we have total concentration and focus to the Premier League and the game on Sunday because the start is difficult and we need a win. Everyone knows and we really have to work for it.” “It’s a short preparation and it was okay to be disappointed but when we train on Saturday everyone has to focus on the Sunday game and then there’s no reason to look back. “It’s always important [to go into the international break with a win] because we need points and we need wins. Wins give confidence to everybody. “Everyone knows about the difficult start and Sunday’s game is important, we have to win. “It is important to be focused on the way we play, our qualities and then if we play our level we will create chances. We then need to be more clinical.” Alex Neil's Match Preview please log in to view this image Alex Neil lays his unbeaten away record on the line this afternoon “I think every game is a chance to go and get some points. It’s about how we attack it and how we approach it,” “We’ll be ready for the challenge; we’re playing well at the moment ourselves so hopefully we can continue that. “Everybody’s made a lot of our away record and the fact that they haven’t picked up a win yet so far, so it should be an interesting match.” “They’re a good team [Southampton], they’re established in the Premier League and they had a really good season last year. Hopefully we can go and compete really well and bring back the points.” “It’s going to be a tough game. Obviously they had the Europa League on Thursday, which will hopefully go in our favour. Current Form (most recent first) Southampton LDDLD SOUTHAMPTON HOME Southampton have won 6, drawn 3 and lost 2 of the last 11 stagings of this fixture, outscoring their opponents by 20 goals to 12. Southampton have scored in 70% of their last 20 home games. Southampton have kept a clean sheet in 55% of their last 20 home games. Norwich City WDWLW NORWICH CITY AWAY Norwich have won 2, drawn 3 and lost 6 of the last 11 stagings of this fixture, being outscored by their opponents by 20 goals to 12. Norwich have scored in 85% of their last 20 away games. Norwich have kept a clean sheet in 35% of their last 20 away games. MATCH STATISTICS www.kickoff.co.uk Match History In all there have been 123 competitive meetings between these two sides, the first being a 1-1 draw at Newmarket Road, Norwich in the Southern League way back on 9th September 1905. Saints have the upper hand with 47 wins to the Canaries 39, there have been 37 stalemates. There have been many high scoring encounters between the two and seven or more goals have been shared on more than one occasion. The Premier League era has seen a 9 goal thriller at Carrow Road, Saints eventually coming out on top 4-5 on 9th April 1994. However believe it or not that was not the highest aggregate scoreline, that was on 14th December 1957 in League Division Three (South) at the Dell where in an incredible match no less than 10 goals were shared when Southampton recorded there best ever victory against City winning by 7 goals to 3. The Canaries best win was on 29th April 1961 in League Division Two at Carrow Road when they thrashed Saints 5-0. Highest Southampton Score Southampton 7 Norwich City 3 Highest Norwich City Score Norwich City 5 Southampton 0 Highest Aggregate (10) Southampton 7 Norwich City 3 Club Connections Those to have plied their trade as a player with both clubs include: Kevin Bond, Phil Boyer, Mick Channon, Simon Charlton, Peter Crouch (Norwich loan), Justin Fashanu (Southampton loan), Fraser Forster (Norwich loan), Darren Kenton, Ted MacDougall, Jon Otsemobor, Youssef Safri, Andrew Surman, Andy Townsend and perhaps most famous of all Ron Davies. Former Canaries Captain Craig Fleming currently works in the Saints' academy and Southampton goalkeeping coach Dave Watson was once at Norwich. Did You Know ? On the 18th March 1992 City and Saints contested an F.A. Cup Quarter-Final Replay at Carrow Road, the Canaries eventually seeing off the visitors by 2 goals to 1 after extra time. At the time Southampton were not exactly renowned as a 'footballing' side and would often resort to 'bully boy' tactics. However on this ocassion it didn't work and they finished the game with just nine men.The match was also notable though because it was the first time Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton appeared on the same pitch together, both eventually going on to win the Premier League title together with Blackburn Rovers. NCFC Team Line Up please log in to view this image Match to be broadcast 'live' on Sky Sports 1 & Sky Sports 1HD Listen to full match commentary on BBC Radio Norfolk 95.1 & 104.4FM, 855Mhz and DAB Digital Radio with Chris Goreham please log in to view this image ... and don't forget to tune into 'Canary Call' post match with Rob Butler ! please log in to view this image OTBC !
Well done as always KIO. I fancy a point today (perhaps all 3). It doesn't seem that all is well down at St Mary's at this time, so we have reason for optimism I would suggest.
Well done KIO, brilliant as usual. Just a word about your new avatar, I don't believe KK was EVER that young!
TEAM: Ruddy; Whittaker, Martin, Bassong, Brady; Redmond, Tettey, Dorrans, Howson; Hoolahan; Jerome. Saints have Ward-Prowse & Tadic in for Caulker & Wanyama.
Was really hopful for a weakened Saints lineup. That's a really strong starting 11. What a great squad they have now.
I hope we start getting involved in the game soon. They are gonna score any minute if we don't up it.
The atmosphere at St Mary's sounds pretty dead. Hope we will improve soon, keep giving the ball away.
This feels like its only a matter of time until we concede. If we can get to half time and regroup, it'll be a minor miracle.
Jerome should have scored. Done nothing so far, but that was a great chance! Needed to work the keeper minimum.
