Norwich City look like they will be playing next season in the Championship as they were slaughtered 4-0 against Manchester United in a match that was largely one way traffic from the first whistle.
The Canaries latest defeat which is their 14th of the season from 22 games leaves the club rock bottom with 14 points. Later today 19th plays 18th as Bournemouth take on Watford in what should be a fascinating match but Norwich look doomed whatever the outcome. Currently the club are 7 points from safety, that’s basically a month’s worth of football and it would take an almighty set of games to put things right.
Of course Norwich could look to Watford for some inspiration. The Hornets have climbed from the bottom of the league, themselves being six points adrift. They are 19th but have gone 4 games unbeaten and could climb out of the bottom three with a win today. The difference though is that to get here Watford had to sack their manager-indeed in Nigel Pearson they are on their 3rd manager this season alone.
Appointing Daniel Farke as manager was always going to be risky for Norwich, in part because he had no top flight managerial experience. Although he was appointed in 2017 and helped the club gain promotion to the Premier League, in that sense perhaps Farke’s ambitions lie away from the Premier League. In it Norwich have huffed and puffed this season, they stunned the champions Manchester City beating them 3-2 and have in general played some good football against the top teams. But motivation has been a problem against bottom half clubs and teams around them, and it does look like Norwich will be going straight back down again.
As for the rest, it is quite an open book. One would think that Watford will simply surge forward. They have been outstanding under Pearson, and even if they do face a set back there is a clear objective and belief in the club to do well. This puts pressure on Bournemouth, Aston Villa, West Ham, Burnley and Brighton who look like the likeliest to struggle. Two of those teams look like going down at this time, and all have faced misery in recent years regarding relegation.
Aston Villa after Norwich are the next favourites to go down according to the bookmakers. But perhaps one should keep an eye out for West Ham. They are being quoted at 3/1. The Hammers have some very difficult games coming up, including quite a few away games, They will have to face the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea in close succession.
There are still 16 games to play and anything can happen, but for almost certain we know that one of the teams going down this season is Norwich. The question remains will the club react and sack Farke, or will they take a gamble on him?
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