Somewhat unexpectedly, but logically enough, Southampton found themselves in close proximity to the direct promotion zone. Not so long ago, the Saints were struggling with their problems and getting out of the middle of the standings and into the play-off zone. In December, Southampton proved to be the most stable representative of the division along with the leading Leicester City. This allowed the Saints to get within arm's length of second place. Norwich City can only dream of a two-month winless streak. Not only that, the current state of affairs of the Canaries forces them to set much more down-to-earth goals. For example, like ending a mini-series of two defeats. In the first round, Southampton and Norwich produced one of the most exciting matches of the season in the Championship. Then the Canaries took the lead three times at St Mary's and lost once more, but "painted" the final draw with a score of 4:4. Bookmakers have identified the guests as favourites for the upcoming meeting, offering odds of 2.12 on their victory.

Norwich from the first rounds of the current season looked almost the best in the Championship. August for the "canaries" ended with two wins in the English League Cup, three wins and one draw in the championship. "Black streak" for the hosts of the upcoming meeting began from the beginning of October and contained six matches, according to the results of which the "canaries" gained only one point. Since mid-November Norwich have taken part in six rounds of the Championship, following the results of which they lost only to Watford away, but Boxing Day brought the team another disappointment. Norwich have travelled to visit Millwall and West Bromwich in the last five days, losing to each of their opponents 0-1.

In September, Southampton lost four in a row and stopped being quoted as a real promotion contender. However, the series of defeats was interrupted by a victory over a potential direct competitor - Leeds. After that, things went better for the Saints than for other clubs in the division. Now Southampton have seventeen consecutive winless matches in the Championship. At the same time, the last five meetings of the "Saints" away did not contain more than two goals scored. Let's bet that no more than three goals will be scored in the upcoming match.