Norwich City vs West Bromwich Albion Prediction 01.10.2025 | Championship

On paper, Norwich City have a squad strong enough to fight for promotion to the English top flight, but they have struggled to live up to expectations in the opening weeks of the Championship, finding themselves closer to the drop zone than the playoff spots.

Across the first seven fixtures of the Championship, the Canaries managed to gather a meager eight points, turning only two of those games into wins, while the fact that they went through the entire September schedule without a victory (D2 L1) is clearly starting to frustrate them.

Returning to their own ground hasn’t offered much encouragement either, as Liam Manning’s side have seen their only bright moment at Carrow Road this season come in a 1-0 win over Blackburn Rovers on matchday one, followed by a dull spell of three straight home games without a victory.

Danish striker Mathias Kvistgaarden is a major absentee with knee issues and is unlikely to feature in Wednesday’s match, while Benjamin Chrisene (hamstring) and Papa Amadou Diallo (unknown) remain doubts.

Since their relegation from the Premier League in the 2020-21 season, WBA have worked tirelessly to return to the top flight, but so far they have fallen short of that goal, coming closest two years ago when they finished fifth in the regular season before succumbing to Leeds in the playoff semi-finals.

Sharing an almost identical dull run of form to their midweek hosts, the Baggies also went without a taste of victory in September, suffering back-to-back narrow defeats to Derby County 1-0 and Middlesbrough 2-1 before holding Leicester to a 1-1 draw over the weekend.

Even though their form has slipped in the past few weeks, WBA are still close to the playoff positions, trailing sixth-placed Preston by only one point, and they will aim to revive their challenge for the top spots, buoyed by the knowledge that two of their three wins this season came away from home.

Daryl Dike and Tammer Bany, yet to make their season debuts, are close to returning from injury and could be back in action very soon, while Karlan Grant is confirmed to remain sidelined for a while with a recent leg injury.