Score Predictions: Norwich City vs Swansea City

Paul Merson and Mark Lawrenson predict the score ahead of Saturday’s match at Carrow Road as both Norwich City and Swansea are both in need of a Premier League win.

Read our Pre-Match stats here

Norwich City will want to end a 6-match winless run, while the Swans hope to bounce back from last week’s 3-0 home defeat against joint leaders Arsenal.

The Canaries may have lost four games on the bounce now, but they will be encouraged that they almost managed to get a point at Manchester City last weekend, before Toure netted a last minute penalty to maintain top spot.

BBC’s Mark Lawrenson believes that Swansea will ‘come at them’ which will ‘play in to Norwich’s hands’.

‘Swansea had plenty of chances last week in their defeat by Arsenal but they have been in the Premier League long enough to know what happens if you don’t take them against the top clubs.

Norwich had their own hard-luck story, losing at Manchester City after defending well for most of the game.

I don’t see many goals in this Canaries team but Swansea will come at them, and that will suit Norwich at Carrow Road.’

We don’t quite see it like that, although we do agree that we expect fewer goals than we usually get in this fixture. Both teams aren’t scoring highly recently, and it could be another cagey affair between two sides low on confidence – like it was in Swansea’s recent victory at Villa Park.

Then again, Alex Neil demands a lot from his newly promoted side and I’d expect the young manager to instruct his side to play in a positive manner and to apply good intensity. We saw what happened when Watford did that, they stopped us from playing and won the game 1-0.

Sky Sports’ Paul Merson says that Swansea are ‘struggling, very much so’, but has gone with the same prediction as ours, a low scoring 1-1 draw.

Swansea’s big problem this season – away from home – has been a habit of conceding the first goal. They’ve done so in each of their last 3 away games – even at struggling Aston Villa – but fortunately they came back to win 2-1.

But conceding the first goal puts the team under pressure, and Norwich may not leave a lead slip quite as easily as Aston Villa did in Tim Sherwood’s last game in charge.

In our current poll, 60% have voted for a Swansea City win, with 20% predicting a draw.

Are you confident that the Swans can win a second successive away League game? Let us know via the comments below…