Norwich City play host to Southampton in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon sitting six points adrift of safety in the standings.
Meanwhile, the Saints make the trip to Carrow Road holding just a seven-point advantage above the bottom three after a poor run of form.
Match preview
© Reuters
During the middle of January, Southampton were being tipped to challenge for a top-seven spot in the standings after registering 13 points from just five games.
However, since that resurgence, five defeats have come from seven outings, leaving Ralph Hasenhuttl's side with work to do if they want to avoid a relegation battle.
Hasenhuttl would have regarded last weekend's home fixture with Newcastle United as the perfect opportunity to get back on track, but the first-half dismissal for Moussa Djenepo left the Saints with 10 men for over an hour of the contest.
With trips to Norwich and Watford to come before a difficult run of games, Hasenhuttl knows that his players can ill-afford to under-perform on Saturday afternoon if they wish to avoid the stakes getting higher later in the season.
From Norwich's perspective, they will view Southampton as ideal opponents as they bid to close the gap on the teams above them in the relegation zone.
Although the Canaries have a relatively favourable schedule in the coming weeks, Daniel Farke will acknowledge that they need to be claiming maximum points against teams of similar profile to them.
Despite the narrow defeat at Sheffield United last weekend, Farke will take the positives from having pushed the Blades just three days after requiring extra time and penalties to see off Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup.
Nevertheless, while the East Anglian outfit are not lacking in spirit, they must match their desire with quality in the final third with just two goals coming in their last half-a-dozen encounters.
That has coincided with Teemu Pukki's drop-off in form with the Finn failing to find the back of the net on his last five starts.
Norwich City Premier League form: LDLLWL
Norwich City form (all competitions): DLLWDL
Southampton Premier League form: WLLWLL
Southampton form (all competitions): LLLWLL
Team News
© Reuters
Southampton will be without winger Djenepo, who begins a three-match ban after his straight red card against Newcastle.
While Nathan Redmond stays on the sidelines through injury, Stuart Armstrong is back in contention after concussion.
Kyle Walker-Peters is in line to return to the starting lineup at right-back in place of Yan Valery.
Norwich are able to call upon Emiliano Buendia, who has recovered from the muscular injury which kept him out of the game at Bramall Lane last Saturday.
Despite returning to the squad for that same fixture, Christoph Zimmermann is expected to remain among the replacements.
Norwich City possible starting lineup:
Krul; Aarons, Godfrey, Hanley, Lewis; Tettey, McLean, Buendia, Duda, Cantwell; Pukki
Southampton possible starting lineup:
McCarthy; Walker-Peters, Stephens, Bednarek, Bertrand; Armstrong, Ward-Prowse, Hojbjerg, Boufal; Ings, Long
We say: Norwich City 1-1 Southampton
While Hasenhuttl would prefer a win at Carrow Road, avoiding defeat may be his priority this weekend. With that in mind, we feel that the Saints will do enough to earn a share of the spoils against opponents who will inevitably push hard for all three points.
