Thursday was a grim day for much of the country including Nelson’s County, Norfolk.
The government’s announcement that Norfolk will go straight from Tier Two into Tier Four from Boxing Day is a huge setback for moral, generally, and it means that fans will no longer be allowed into football matches at Carrow Road. The upcoming games against QPR and Barnsley will now have to be played behind closed doors with Norwich City announcing that they will refund those fans affected.
This grim news was something that Daniel Farke addressed during his pre-Watford press conference with the game at Vicarage Road on Boxing Day evening also taking place behind closed doors.
He says, quite rightly, that it is a privilege for the players and coaches to be able to continue to play football in such times and that they have a responsibility to entertain the fans and to put smiles on faces.
The show must go on, it seems, and there have been plenty of smiles on the faces of the Canary Nation due to the team’s recent performances.
Watford are, like Bournemouth, surely favourites for the top two automatic promotion positions due to the number of seasons that they have spent in the Premier League, with both teams having been promoted with Norwich in 2015. The difference being that Norwich have spent three of the last five years in the Championship compared to the five for each of the others, that’s an extra £300m odd financial advantage that both clubs have had over Norwich.
Anyway, I digress. Norwich will welcome back some more players to their squad for the trip t0 Watford.
Ben Gibson and Lukas Rupp will both return to the squad for this game, as could Xavi Quintilla who is finally back in training.
Team news in full ahead of Saturday's trip to Watford ⬇
— Norwich City FC (@NorwichCityFC) December 23, 2020
Max Aarons was fine after a late scare against Cardiff when he went down in a crumpled heap. He hasn’t missed a training session since, according to Farke but Przemyslaw Placheta is not likely to feature until after Boxing Day with the same going for Tim Krul.
The hoped for early return for Krul now doesn’t look like happening.
🗣 DF: I don't think Tim is available for Boxing Day. The injections seem to work and I expect him to be back after the FA Cup break.#NCFC pic.twitter.com/w9BdXBMcEu
— Norwich City FC (@NorwichCityFC) December 23, 2020
Still, Michael McGovern has let nobody down since he had to stand in between the sticks and in my view he has got better and better with each passing game. Just like any player, he has improved with regular game time.
The game is going to be broadcast on Sky which means no iFollow passes being sold for the game. So unless you have Sky, it’s going to be Radio Norfolk only for you, I’m afraid. It’s not like you can watch it in a pub either, sadly 🙁
Whatever your plans this Christmas, I hope you have a good day.
Merry Christmas.
OTBC
Worth checking Now TV – I think they still do a £10 one day pass for Sky sports so same deal as ifollow just with cheesier commentators.