Wolverhampton Wanderers play host to Norwich City on Sunday afternoon looking to end their three-match winless streak in the Premier League.
The Canaries head into the weekend sitting seven points adrift of safety, putting the pressure on Daniel Farke's side to push for victory at Molineux.
Match preview
© Reuters
After two games without troubling the scoresheet, Wolves looked back to their brilliant best on Thursday night as they thrashed Espanyol by a 4-0 scoreline in the Europa League.
However, with the Spanish outfit resting the majority of their preferred XI, the onus remains on Wolves to prove that they replicate that ruthlessness against teams in the Premier League.
Nuno Espirito Santo's side have had a tough run in the top flight, playing Liverpool, Manchester United and Leicester City in successive matches, but the Portuguese will now hope that Wolves can capitalise on their upcoming fixtures.
Diogo Jota netted his second European hat-trick in a row on Thursday night, although you have to go all the way back to December 8 for the attacker's last contribution on the domestic scene.
Nevertheless, with Pedro Neto and Daniel Podence providing extra competition for places, Jota may benefit from feeling the need to raise his game during the closing months of the campaign.
While Norwich make the trip to the West Midlands cut adrift at the bottom of the table, the Canaries have shown improvements over their last five matches in all competitions.
As well as reaching the FA Cup fifth round, Norwich have kept two clean sheets from four attempts, only conceding goals during narrow defeats to Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool respectively.
In their most recent outing against the latter, Norwich regularly troubled the league leaders, and Farke will feel that his side are heading in the right direction, regardless of their lowly standing.
Although Norwich have not scored a goal from open play in the first half of a Premier League contest since New Year's Day, they are facing opponents who have made a habit of conceding the first goal in matches throughout this season.
Wolverhampton Wanderers Premier League form: LDWLDD
Wolverhampton Wanderers form (all competitions): LWLDDW
Norwich City Premier League form: DLWLDL
Norwich City form (all competitions): LWLWDL
Team News
© Reuters
With Sam Byram having sustained a hamstring injury last weekend, Jamal Lewis will return to the Norwich starting lineup at left-back.
Emiliano Buendia is also in line for a recall, potentially at the expense of January arrival Lukas Rupp.
Barring any late fitness issues, Nuno is expected to name the same team which began the fixture with Espanyol.
Should the Portuguese opt to freshen up his team, Leander Dendoncker would likely come into the midfield in place of Ruben Neves or Joao Moutinho.
Wolverhampton Wanderers possible starting lineup:
Patricio; Boly, Coady, Saiss; Doherty, Neves, Moutinho, Jonny; Traore, Jimenez, Jota
Norwich City possible starting lineup:
Krul; Aarons, Zimmermann, Hanley, Lewis; Tettey, McClean; Buendia, Duda, Cantwell; Pukki
We say: Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 Norwich City
As it was at Carrow Road in December, we expect a hard-fought encounter with Norwich causing Wolves plenty of problems. However, despite their European fixture in midweek, Wolves could grind out a narrow win.
body check tags ::
