Norwich City’s Under-18s are back on their travels as they face Aston Villa this Saturday afternoon (12:30pm kick-off).
The young Canaries will be looking to get that winning feeling back from this testing fixture, as they continue their chase of the elusive tenth-place Arsenal in the U18 Premier League table.
Three points would aid in that mission, as they sit just four points behind the north London side. After taking a draw against the Gunners last time out, a win over Villa could be a defining factor in keeping the chase going.
The last five games haven’t had the taste of a win for the Canaries, seeing three draws and two losses. Zach Dronfield has been the catalyst in two of these draws, as two separate late equalisers from the midfielder saved the side points against Tottenham and Arsenal.
Midtable at seventh, Aston Villa are a tough test for City. The Birmingham side have taken 20 points from 15 fixtures so far this season, an impressive tally raised by six wins, two draws and seven losses.
The Villa side have been on fine form in their recent fixtures, taking three wins in a row. The most of impressive of these wins came against Chelsea. The seventh-place side beat the joint-top team 3-2, handing them their second loss of the season in the League.
The Canaries last played the Villans back in September of the current 2019-20 season, the game ending 2-1 in Villa’s favour.
Not only would a win give the Canaries three points to allow them to continue their climb of the table, but also give them a boost of confidence needed to see them through to the next fixtures, as the season slowly finds it's climax.
You can follow all the action of the game on our dedicated Academy Twitter account.