Counting down to the start of their competitive schedule next week, Standard Liege will welcome English Championship side Norwich City to Stade Maurice Dufrasne for a pre-season friendly on Saturday afternoon.
Les Rouches will take to the field for the final time before the season opener at Genk on July 28, whilst the Canaries are on the road as they prepare for a promotion push during the 2024-25 season.
Match preview
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Following a seventh-placed finish in the Belgian Pro League during the 2022-23 campaign, Standard Liege endured a tricky time last term as they fell off significantly at the conclusion of the season and ended up 12th in a 16-team division, bottom of the Europa Conference League playoff group.
Heading into his first pre-season as Les Rouches manager, Ivan Leko is under considerable pressure after a rocky start to life in charge of the Belgian powerhouses, with the 46-year-old winning three, drawing seven and losing 10 of his 20 competitive matches at the helm to date.
Intensifying the concerns of Standard Liege supporters ahead of the season opener next week, Saturday's hosts have lost the services of last term's leading marksmen over the summer period, with Frenchman Wilfried Kanga returning to parent club Hertha Berlin following a 12-goal campaign in the Pro League.
Focusing on incomings, Les Rouches have been operating in the market of free transfers so far during the off-season, with the pick of the arrivals arguably Dinamo Zagreb centre-back Bosko Sutalo, with head coach Leko using his Croatian connections to secure the services of the 24-year-old.
This weekend's clash with Norwich at Stade Maurice Dufrasne will present Standard Liege with the opportunity to maintain a 100% record in pre-season, with the Belgians recording 5-0 and 2-1 wins over Aubel and Dutch outfit NEC respectively so far this summer.
Once the main characters of any Championship campaign, Norwich City have been forced to play a supporting role in the second tier over the past two years since relegation from the Premier League, with the East Anglians missing out on promotion last term despite finishing inside the top six.
The Canaries squeezed into the playoffs ahead of seventh-placed Hull City and faced Daniel Farke's Leeds United in the semi-final, with a sobering four-goal defeat for the visitors at Elland Road on May 16 condemning Norwich to a third straight season of Championship football.
Unsurprisingly, David Wagner was given the boot in the immediate aftermath of his side's harrowing playoff loss, with 35-year-old Johannes Thorup now in charge at Carrow Road, where the Canaries will be expected to compete with the likes of Sheffield United, Burnley and Leeds for promotion.
Bursting onto the first-team scene last season with a brace against local rivals Ipswich Town, Jonathan Rowe will be looking to cement a place in Thorup's preferred XI this summer, and the winger has already impressed the new boss in pre-season, netting a double in the 3-0 friendly success over Northampton Town.
Norwich will play their second and final match in Belgium on Saturday afternoon following a tricky assignment against Pro League champions Club Brugge on Wednesday night, when strikes from Hans Vanaken, Gustaf Nilsson and Ferran Jutgla Blanc secured a comfortable victory for Nicky Hayen's side.
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Team News
Signing from last season's Ligue 1 basement dwellers Clermont Foot over the summer, Grejohn Kyei will be desperate to get onto the scoresheet for Standard Liege this weekend.
Dinamo Zagreb loanee Marko Bulat played in all three of UEFA's club competitions during the 2023-24 campaign and should provide plenty of knowhow in the engine room, despite only being 22 years of age.
Norwich fielded striker Adam Idah for the opening 30 minutes of the loss to Club Brugge on Wednesday, amid intense speculation over a potential move to Celtic for the Republic of Ireland international.
Joshua Sargent and Marcelino Nunez are back with the Canaries following their exploits with the United States and Chile respectively at this summer's Copa America.
Thorup stated that is it only a matter of time before Norwich's international stars earn their first minutes of pre-season, although it is unlikely that either Sargent, Nunez or Jose Cordoba will start this weekend.
Standard Liege possible starting lineup:
Epolo; Noubi, Hautekiet, Sutalo, Fossey; Bolingoli, O'Neill, Ghalidi, Price; Ziani, Benjdida
Norwich City possible starting lineup:
Long; Stacey, Sorensen, Warner, Montoia; Fisher, Sara, Kamara, Rowe, Sainz; Idah
We say: Standard Liege 1-2 Norwich City
Standard Liege have struggled under the leadership of Leko so far in 2024, and we feel that a full-strength Norwich side could cause the hosts serious issues.
The Canaries are welcoming back a number of their international players, so we should see an improved performance and result compared to Wednesday's clash with Club Brugge.
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Norwich City win with a probability of 38.22%. A win for Standard Liege had a probability of 36.79% and a draw had a probability of 25%.
The most likely scoreline for a Norwich City win was 1-2 with a probability of 8.46%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-1 (8.3%) and 0-2 (5.99%). The likeliest Standard Liege win was 2-1 (8.28%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.72%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with an 11.7% likelihood.
Carter White
