NORWICH CITY v ASTON VILLA
Barclays Premier League
12.45pm kick-off
Carrow Road
Saturday, September 21, 2013

THE Canaries welcome Aston Villa to Carrow Road for this Saturday’s early kick-off in the Barclays Premier League – and City will be hoping to maintain their impressive run of home form.

Coincidentally, Villa are the only team to have beaten Chris Hughton’s men at Carrow Road in their last 11 competitive matches having snatched a 2-1 victory thanks to Gabriel Agbonlahor’s brace at the business end of the last season.

City have notched wins against Bury and Southampton so far on home turf this year, on top of earning a deserved point against Everton on the opening day of the campaign.

The teams met three times in total last season, with Paul Lambert’s side winning 4-1 in their Capital One Cup quarter-final and the Premier League match at Villa Park ending all square.

The visitors lead the overall head-to-head record between the two teams, having won 27 of the 60 meetings. City have triumphed 17 times, with the other 16 games resulting in draws.

MOST RECENT COMPETITIVE MEETINGS…
NORWICH CITY 1-2 Aston Villa 04/05/2013 – Premier League
NORWICH CITY 1-4 Aston Villa 11/12/2012 – Capital One Cup
Aston Villa 1-1 NORWICH CITY 27/10/2012 – Premier League
NORWICH CITY 2-0 Aston Villa 13/05/2012 – Premier League
Aston Villa 3-2 NORWICH CITY 05/11/2011 – Premier League

LAST TIME AROUND… Norwich City 1-2 Aston Villa May 4 2013 – Premier League
The Canaries’ relegation worries heightened back in May when Gabriel Agbonlahor scored twice in the penultimate Carrow Road fixture of the campaign.

Grant Holt had equalised Agbonlahor’s opener from the penalty spot, but the striker slotted home in the 89th minute to all but secure Villa’s survival in the top flight.

Chris Hughton said afterwards: “I'm annoyed and frustrated because there was no way we should have lost or deserved to lose.

“We were the better side over 90 minutes but Villa have pace on the counter-attack and we have conceded two poor goals today.

"Next week's game against West Brom becomes a bigger game. We will need a better performance but we can't concede the goals we conceded today and expect to win football matches."

CANARIES FORM…
L – 0-2 v Tottenham Hotspur (A) 14/09/2013 – Premier League
W – 1-0 v Southampton (H) 31/08/2013 – Premier League
W – 6-3 v Bury (H) 27/08/2013 – Capital One Cup Second Round
L – 0-1 v Hull City (A) 24/08/2013 – Premier League
D – 2-2 v Everton (H) 17/08/2013 – Premier League

VILLANS FORM…
L – 1-2 v Newcastle United (H) 14/09/2013 – Premier League
W – 3-0 v Rotherham United (H) 28/08/2013 – Capital One Cup
L – 0-1 v Liverpool (H) 24/08/2013 – Premier League
L – 1-2 v Chelsea (A) 21/08/2013 – Premier League
W – 3-1 v Arsenal (A) 17/08/2013 – Premier League

LAST NORWICH CITY XI (4-4-1-1 v Tottenham Hotspur)…
John Ruddy; Steven Whittaker, Sebastien Bassong (c), Michael Turner, Javier Garrido; Robert Snodgrass, Leroy Fer, Bradley Johnson, Nathan Redmond; Johan Elmander; Ricky van Wolfswinkel.

LAST ASTON VILLA XI (4-3-3 v Newcastle United)…
Brad Guzan; Matthew Lowton, Ron Vlaar (c), Jores Okore, Antonio Luna; Karim El Ahmadi, Ashley Westwood, Fabian Delph; Andreas Weimann, Christian Benteke, Gabriel Agbonlahor.

REFEREE – Chris Foy…
Chris Foy will take charge of his third game of the season when he leads the team out at Carrow Road on Saturday lunchtime.

The Merseyside official Bradford City’s 2-0 win over Sheffield United on August 24 before refereeing Newcastle United 1-0 triumph against Fulham a week later.

Foy’s decision to send off Mark Bunn dominated the headlines from his last Norwich City match against Sunderland back in March – a game City went on to draw 1-1.

In his 31 matches last year, Foy issued 64 yellow cards and two red cards.

PREMIER LEAGUE FIXTURES
NORWICH CITY v ASTON VILLA (12.45)
Liverpool v Southampton
Newcastle United v Hull City
West Bromwich Albion v Sunderland
West Ham United v Everton
Chelsea v Fulham (17.30)
Arsenal v Stoke City (Sunday, 13.30)
Crystal Palace v Swansea City (Sunday, 13.30)
Cardiff City v Tottenham Hotspur (Sunday, 16.00)
Manchester City v Manchester United (Sunday, 16.00)

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