Wolverhampton Wanderers will be looking to bounce back from their heavy defeat to Manchester City when they welcome basement side Norwich City to Molineux on Sunday.
The home side are currently eighth in the table, five points behind seventh-placed West Ham United, while Norwich, who have already been relegated alongside Watford, are rock bottom of the division.
Match preview
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Wolves were in a top-six battle at the start of April, but a disappointing run of form has seen them lose four of their last five Premier League matches, picking up just a single point in the process.
Bruno Lage's team suffered a 5-1 home loss to Man City on Wednesday evening, which has left them in eighth position in the table, five points behind seventh-placed West Ham, so they are, for the moment, still in the running for a spot in the Europa Conference League.
Wolves can no longer finish in the top six, though, and they are only three points ahead of ninth-placed Brighton & Hove Albion, meaning that the out-of-form side could drop down the league before the end of the campaign.
Lage's side have only picked up 23 points from their 18 league matches at Molineux this season, with their away form stronger during the 2021-22 campaign, but they are unlikely to get much change from their final away fixture of the season at Liverpool on May 22.
A top-eight finish is far from disastrous for Wolves considering that they finished 13th last term, but a top-six spot was seemingly on offer this term due to the struggles of Manchester United, and they will be left wondering what might have been.
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Norwich, meanwhile, were officially relegated to the Championship at the end of last month courtesy of their 2-0 defeat at Aston Villa.
The Canaries have lost twice more since that fixture, going down 4-0 at home to West Ham United last weekend before being beaten 3-0 at Leicester City on Wednesday night.
Dean Smith's side can still finish 19th, as Watford are just two points above them, but the club will again play Championship football next term, and it will be fascinating to see whether they can bounce straight back into the Premier League once again.
Norwich have the worst away form in the Premier League this season, picking up just nine points from their 18 matches, scoring just 10 times on their travels, so it is not too difficult to see why it has been such a struggle for them this term.
The Canaries played out a goalless draw with Wolves at Carrow Road earlier this season, but they lost 3-0 on their last trip to Molineux in February 2020.
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Team News
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Wolves will again be missing Max Kilman and Nelson Semedo, while Daniel Podence and Romain Saiss remain major doubts for the home side this weekend.
Head coach Lage is likely to resist the temptation to make wholesale changes to the side that started the heavy defeat to Man City, but Hwang Hee-chan and Fernando Marcal could come into the XI.
Jonny Castro will again play as a central defender if Saiss does not recover in time, while Joao Moutinho, Ruben Neves and Leander Dendoncker should continue in midfield for the home side.
As for Norwich, head coach Smith has revealed that he will have the same squad from the clash with Leicester, as the Canaries have not suffered any fresh issues.
There are still a lot of players on the treatment table, though, with Adam Idah, Andrew Omobamidele, Christoph Zimmermann, Kenny McLean, Joshua Sargent, Mathias Normann and Ozan Kabak all out.
There could be changes from the side that started the three-goal loss at Leicester, with Kieran Dowell and Ben Gibson pushing to return to the starting side at Molineux.
Wolverhampton Wanderers possible starting lineup:
Sa; Jonny, Coady, Boly; Marcal, Dendoncker, Neves, Moutinho, Ait Nouri; Jimenez, Hee-chan
Norwich City possible starting lineup:
Gunn; Aarons, Hanley, Gibson, Giannoulis; Dowell, Rupp, Lees Melou, Gilmour, Rashica; Pukki
We say: Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-0 Norwich City
Norwich's last two performances have been concerning, and this is the perfect match for Wolves, as Lage's side attempt to pick up a morale-boosting three points. Wolves have also struggled in recent weeks, but they should have too much for the league's basement side here.
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 Wolverhampton Wanderers win with a probability of 54.9%. A draw had a probability of 23.8% and a win for Norwich City had a probability of 21.32%.
The most likely scoreline for a Wolverhampton Wanderers win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.56%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (9.97%) and 2-1 (9.75%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.3%), while for a Norwich City win it was 0-1 (6.56%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with an 11.3% likelihood.
Top tip
Matt Law
