Even though the appointment in November of new manager Phillipe Clement has had a galvanising effect on Norwich's prospects, they will still be in 23rd place when Charlton arrive at Carrow Road on Friday.
Under previous manager Liam Manning - who had arrived from Bristol City in the summer - they were floundering with two wins and three draws from their first fifteen games. Amazingly, this included losing all seven of their home games. Clement's first game in charge was a 1-4 thrashing at Birmingham but since then his team has beaten QPR and Southampton at home and drawn with Oxford plus gaining draws at Sheffield United and Preston away. Their only defeat was 2-3 at Watford. In those six games they have doubled their points tally to eighteen and their supporters are now looking up the table at the likes of Portsmouth, Blackburn and ourselves.
They don't have too much trouble scoring goals - with 25 so far they have four more than us. American international Josh Sargent (29 caps, 5 goals) is in his fourth season at Carrow Road and has scored 76 goals in 244 appearances since his £9m move from Werder Bremen. He was named EFL Championship Player of the Month for August after scoring five in four matches. Twenty one year old Jovon Makama was signed from Lincoln City this summer for £1.2m. The six foot five striker has scored seven league goals already this season and it will be interesting to compare him with Miles Leaburn.
Defence, however, is another matter; only Sheffield Wednesday (43) have conceded more than Norwich's 35 (9 more than u). They have one clean sheet all season and that was eighteen games ago; even under Clement they have let in twelve goals in seven games.
Clement likes to set up in a 4-2-3-1 and use possession to bait his opponents. Once being pressed, and dependent on the pressing structure, Norwich are equally as happy to attempt to exploit space with a ball over the top as they are to play through the gaps left in a man to man press. Nathan Jones has used a man to man pressing system frequently this season, with sides like Southampton and Middlesbrough able to pick it apart with ease. Norwich have the quality in their squad to do the same. What a successful man to man press can do is push your opponent back into their own half and that is certainly what The Addicks will aim to do.
Last time we went up to Norwich for a league game (Sept 2014) we beat them courtesy of a late Johnnie Jackson goal and it was only a 90th minute equaliser that stopped us winning on our previous visit in 2009. Given our recent improvement against Birmingham and Oxford, there is every reason to believe that we can come home on Boxing Day with a point at the very least. Sonny Carey never looks to be short of motivation but he will have a particular point to prove against the club which showed him the door as a sixteen year old. The touch of class that Charlie Kelman demonstrated for his goal on Saturday promises a bright Championship future and he will be keen to show that Sargent isn't the only striker available for the USA next summer.
We travel in hope and expectation
Picture by Rhea Spencer-Newell