An all-Championship affair in the first round of the EFL Cup takes place at Carrow Road on Tuesday as Norwich City play host to Birmingham City.
The Canaries could only play out a 1-1 draw with newly-promoted Wigan Athletic at the weekend, while the Blues got the better of Huddersfield Town 2-1.
If the opening two gameweeks of the season are an indication of what is to come, returning to the Premier League at the first time of asking will be a difficult ask for Norwich, who only have one point to boast from their opening two matches of the 2022-23 Championship season.
After going down 1-0 to Cardiff City on the opening matchday, Norwich returned to Carrow Road to face newly-promoted Wigan and were forced to come from behind to rescue a 1-1 draw, as Max Aarons cancelled out a first-half James McClean strike.
The Canaries’ underwhelming start to the season leaves them dangling above the relegation zone, but taking note of the standings at this stage of the season would be an act of folly, and Dean Smith’s side have plenty of time to light the blue touch paper.
The two-time EFL Cup champions will now set out to avoid a second EFL Cup first-round elimination in three years after exiting early doors in 2020, and they reached the third round last year before being humbled 3-0 by eventual winners Liverpool.
In contrast, Birmingham’s players managed to push the ongoing off-field distractions to one side as they defeated Huddersfield Town 2-1 at St Andrew’s, which has left John Eustace’s side on four points from their opening two games of the campaign.
Scott Hogan and Norwich loanee Przemyslaw Placheta were on target for Birmingham in the first half before Danny Ward pulled one back for Huddersfield just after the hour mark, but the visitors could not draw level in the dying embers of the battle.
The commencement of another EFL Cup campaign will evoke fond memories for Birmingham fans, many of whom witnessed their 2011 triumph over Arsenal in the final thanks to that last-gasp Obafemi Martins effort, but success in the tournament has since been hard to come by.
After three successive first-round eliminations between 2018 and 2020, Birmingham managed to make it to the second round last year but were quickly seen off 2-0 by Fulham, and not since 2015 have they got as far as the third round.
Norwich and Birmingham will lock horns in the Championship only three weeks after Tuesday’s EFL Cup showdown, and the Canaries enter the contest seeking a fourth victory on the bounce over the Blues after winning each of the previous three by an aggregate score of 7-2.
Norwich City form (all competitions):
LD
Birmingham City form (all competitions):
DW
We say: Norwich City 2-1 Birmingham City
Norwich will undoubtedly be the more fired up of the two sides after the weekend’s perceived injustice and spate of injuries, and their recent spate of results against Birmingham makes for positive reading.
The Blues would do well to exploit the wide areas, with Norwich suffering the most in that area, but we have faith in the Canaries to finally kickstart their season and give their fans something to cheer.