Norwich City vs Sunderland. Sky Bet Championship.
Carrow RoadAttendance26,343.
Friday 11 August 2017 15:39, UK
Norwich will have Scotland forward Steven Naismith available again following suspension for the visit of Sunderland on Sunday.
Naismith has now served out a three-match ban following his red card in the Canaries' 3-3 draw against Leeds at the end of last season.
Cameron Jerome could lead the attack again having scored in the midweek Carabao Cup win over Swindon, with Portuguese frontman Nelson Oliveira having sat out after his late equaliser when coming off the bench in the Championship opener at Fulham.
Defender Timm Klose has been carrying a leg muscle problem while German midfielder Marco Stiepermann is pressing for a debut following his transfer from Bochum, but Alex Pritchard needs an operation on ankle ligament damage and is expected to be out for up to three months.
Lee Cattermole is likely to return to the Sunderland squad. The midfielder was left out, along with full-back Billy Jones, for Thursday night's Carabao Cup first round tie at Bury, with manager Simon Grayson later revealing both were rested with the weekend in mind.
Defender Lamine Kone was an unused substitute and striker James Vaughan played only 45 minutes as Grayson gave John O'Shea, Adam Matthews, Darron Gibson and Wahbi Khazri their chance.
Keeper Robin Ruiter, a summer signing from Utrecht, is yet to make his debut with Jason Steele having started the first two games of the campaign, while full-back Bryan Oviedo (calf), striker Josh Maja (knee) and long-term absentees Paddy McNair and Duncan Watmore (both knee) continue to work their way back to fitness.
The Canaries have lost just once in their 11 home league games against the Black Cats (W7 D3), however that loss came in their most recent meeting with Sunderland.
Indeed, the north-east club picked up all three points in April 2016, only their third league victory away to Norwich in 23 attempts.
Since the start of last season, no player has provided more open play assists than Norwich's Wes Hoolahan (10, level with Sone Aluko and Tommy Smith).
Sunderland have won only two of their last 22 league games (D5 L15), although both wins came on the road - 2-0 vs Hull in May and 4-0 vs Crystal Palace in February.
The Canaries have lost only once in their last 12 home Championship matches, winning eight and drawing three.
This will be Sunderland's first away game in the second tier since May 2007 where they beat Luton Town (5-0). Indeed, the Black Cats have won eight of their last 10 on the road in the Championship (D1 L1).
It was a strange opening day for Norwich. Daniel Farke made a real impact by introducing the substitution that got them the point, but then there was the whole issue with Nelson Oliveira's celebration, which didn't sit right with me at all.
Fair play to Daniel for playing it down and saying it showed passion, but the Norwich team that got promoted was full of players that were all pulling in the same direction, and they'll need that mentality back.
Sunderland showed spells of quality against Derby in their opener, but they've entered the season on the back of a terrible relegation and they'll need some more time and some good results to shake that off.
Prutton predicts: 1-0 (6/1 with Sky Bet)
