At A Glance
Aston Villa and Norwich City go head-to-head at Carrow Road in the Premier League on Tuesday night.
Steven Gerrard’s team are looking to bounce back after a 1-0 loss against Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday, a result that left Villa 13th in the table.
And they come up against a familiar face in Canaries boss Dean Smith, who guided the club back to the Premier League during his three years in charge.
Upon his appointment as Norwich manager, Smith oversaw a win and two draws from his first three games.
Defeats to Tottenham Hotpsur and Manchester United since then have left the club bottom of the table with ten points.
Standout Stats
Norwich have lost six of their last seven Premier League games against Aston Villa, with the exception being a 2-0 home win in December 2015.
Aston Villa won 5-1 in their last away league game against Norwich in October 2019, having lost each of their previous four at Carrow Road before this (though three of these were in the Championship).
Norwich have never won a Premier League game on a Tuesday before (D4 L11), with only West Bromwich Albion playing more games on a specific weekday without victory in the competition (32 on Tuesdays).
Aston Villa have won their last two Premier League games on a Tuesday, though this is their first such match since July 2020 (1-0 vs Arsenal). They last won more consecutively on this weekday in the division between January 2008 and December 2009 (4).
As well as being the Premier League’s lowest goalscorers this season (8), Norwich have failed to score in a league-high 10 games so far and have had the fewest shots on target (49) in the division.
Aston Villa have kept just one clean sheet in their last 14 Premier League away games, doing so in a 1-0 victory against Manchester United at Old Trafford in September.
76% of Aston Villa’s Premier League goals this season have come in the second half of games (16/21), while Norwich have netted a league-low three times after half-time this term.
Norwich boss Dean Smith was in charge of Aston Villa for 11 Premier League games this season – this will be the 32nd occasion of a manager taking charge of a Premier League match both for and against a side in the same season, and first since Mark Hughes did so for and against Southampton in 2017-18. Smith will be the third manager to take charge for and against Aston Villa in a single Premier League campaign (also Ron Atkinson in 1994-95 and Stuart Gray in 2001-02).
Aston Villa striker Danny Ings has scored in all three of his Premier League games against Norwich, doing so in September 2015 with Liverpool and in both of Southampton’s games against the Canaries in 2019-20.
Aston Villa’s Emiliano Buendía played for Norwich between 2018-19 and 2020-21, and was the Canaries’ leading chance creator (83) and assister (7) in his solitary Premier League campaign in that run. He could become the sixth different player to score a Premier League goal against Norwich having previously played for them in the competition, after Chris Sutton, Efan Ekoku, Ruel Fox, Harry Kane and Nathan Redmond.
The Last Meeting
On Boxing Day in 2019, Conor Hourihane’s left foot was the decisive factor in a nervy game at Villa Park.
With both sides fighting for their lives at the wrong end of the table, the Irish midfielder earned Villa a big win when he swept the ball home after 64 minutes.
Some last-ditch defending was also required as the home side managed to hold on for the victory.
Team News
A couple of positive COVID tests have impacted Steven Gerrard’s squad ahead of the game, with a couple of staff also self-isolating.
Marvelous Nakamba will be out until the New Year after suffering a knee injury, while Bertrand Traore remains sidelined.
The Canaries’ Christos Tzolis is self-isolating and will miss the game.
Grant Hanley, Andrew Omobamidele, Christoph Zimmermann, Milot Rashica and Mathias Normann are also out, while Ben Gibson could return to their squad.
The Boss
“We’ve had time to analyse Norwich. Since Dean’s gone in, he’s had a new manager bounce and lift. They certainly look like they play with more possession and their performances have certainly improved. We know it’s going to be a tough game under the lights at Carrow Road. The manager we’re facing knows a lot about this group and the players individually. It’s a big challenge, but this is a game that’s very different to Liverpool, with all due respect. It’s a game we want to be aggressive in and we’ll certainly try and show more ambition. We’ll need to perform extremely well to get points from the game.”
Steven Gerrard
