Manchester United vs Norwich City Prediction - Tough times for both teams

With news coming in that Manchester United’s owners have sacked manager David Moyes, it could well be a managerless team that would walk out on the pitch for the weekend’s game against Norwich City. However, looking at the drastic fall from grace for the defending champions, one might be excused for thinking that they never really had any manager throughout the season. Barring a Quarterfinal appearance in the Champions League, the season has had very few positives to look at for Manchester United fans. At the time of writing, rumours are going round that the entire backroom staff will be vacated too, so we might see Ryan Giggs take up the reins temporarily.

Norwich City have their own problems to face. What seemed like relative comfort in terms of the relegation battle has fast turned into a very likely possibility that they will be one of the teams that will go down to the Championship. They are presently 2 points above Cardiff City and Fulham, who are on 18^th and 19^th place respectively. Norwich need to find a way to stop the string of losses that have brought them to this position, as even a couple of draws in the last few games would have made their position more secure.

For Norwich City, there will never be a better time to play Manchester United, with all the off field problems that the defending champions are facing. If Norwich are able to get all 3 points in this game, they will be able to ensure that they have a better chance of avoiding the drop. They definitely cannot afford another loss as their relegation battlers are sure to get some points from their respective games. Manchester United have nothing to play for, not even pride, the way their season has panned out, and most players would be looking at the World Cup and next season, and would want this nightmare to end as quickly as possible.

Injuries

Manchester United are missing out on 3 first team players in Rafael, Robin van Persie and Patrice Evra. All 3 of them are out for the long term and have no chance of making it to this weekend’s game.

Norwich City have only 2 players on the injury list, with Yobo still not having recovered from his shin injury. However, Bennett is scheduled to make a return this weekend, though the chances of him making into the starting eleven are slim.

Man Utd Norwich Head to Head

Manchester United and Norwich City have played each other a total of 58 times, with Manchester United being the obvious dominant team. United have won 34 games while Norwich managed to win 12 of them, with the remaining ending in a draw.

Form

Manchester United – LWWLW
Norwich City – LLLLW

Prediction: Manchester United 1-2 Norwich City

Under normal circumstances, you would expect even a David Moyes led Manchester United to stroll past a hapless Norwich City but the sacking of Moyes could not have come at a better time for the Canaries.