At A Glance
Aston Villa are back in B6 on Saturday as they host Norwich City at Villa Park (ko 3pm).
Steven Gerrard’s side picked up a solid point at Leicester City last weekend, with a 10th clean sheet of the campaign helping to end a run of four successive defeats.
The Villans will be looking for a repeat of their 2-0 victory over the Canaries at Carrow Road earlier this season, Jacob Ramsey and Ollie Watkins on target in mid-December.
Norwich head coach Dean Smith, who managed Villa between 2018-2021 and guided the club to promotion to the Premier League in 2019, returns to Villa Park for the first time since parting ways in November.
The Canaries are currently bottom of the Premier League, 10 points adrift of safety, and have won one of their last 11 matches.
City could potentially be relegated this weekend should Villa triumph and Burnley win at Watford.
Standout Stats
Aston Villa have won seven of their last eight Premier League games against Norwich, with the exception being a 2-0 defeat at Carrow Road in December 2015.
Since winning their first Premier League away game against Aston Villa in November 1992 (3-2), Norwich are winless in their last eight top-flight visits to Villa Park (D3 L5).
Aston Villa have won their last four Premier League matches against Norwich City, last winning five in a row against an opponent between October 2005 and April 2010 against rivals Birmingham City.
The next goal they concede will see Norwich City become the first team to concede 70+ goals in three different Premier League campaigns, with the Canaries previously doing so in 2004/05 (77) and 2019/20 (75).
Norwich have the fewest shots (327), fewest shots on target (97), lowest shot conversion rate (6.7%) and lowest expected goals total (31.5) of all Premier League sides so far this season.
Aston Villa’s Emiliano Buendía played for Norwich in the 2019/20 Premier League campaign, ranking fourth for most chances created that season. He could become the sixth 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.
Teemu Pukki has been involved in 59% of Norwich’s 22 Premier League goals this season (10 goals, 3 assists), the highest share of any player. However, just 30% of his league goals this term have come away from home (3/10).
The Last Meeting
Jacob Ramsey’s stunning solo strike inspired Villa to a 2-0 victory against Norwich at Carrow Road in mid-December.
The homegrown midfielder embarked on a driving run from the halfway line into the penalty area before lashing the ball past Tim Krul after 34 minutes.
A dominant Villa created chances throughout the game, eventually killing the contest off when Ollie Watkins tapped home substitute Carney Chukwuemka’s cross late on, ensuring the three points would be heading back to the midlands.
Team News
Steven Gerrard welcomes back Bertrand Traoré for the encounter after the winger missed last Saturday's clash against the Foxes due to a groin injury.
Fit-again Marvelous Nakamba got some match action under his belt at King Power Stadium, but Morgan Sanson and Kortney Hause remain sidelined.
The Boss
"I think the players are well aware of what type of performance we need. We want to see an aggressive, front-foot performance. We don’t focus on who’s favourites, who’s underdogs, what the bookies think or everyone else and the outside noise. We prepare in the best way we can, we’ve worked on situations and scenarios that might come up within the game. And we try to put the players in a place where they know what to expect from Norwich, so it’s just about going and executing a game plan now and hopefully everyone’s all in to push us towards that."
