David Wright’s squad currently sit eighth in the Premier League 2 table, just a single point behind Middlesbrough and two points behind fourth-placed Stoke in a tight top half of the league.

Meanwhile, the Eagles sit neck and neck with the Canaries with 16 points, both sides having a goal difference of zero, leaving Palace ahead on goals scored.

All three points can be hugely important to the young Canaries’ promotion hopes, a win having the potential to see them rise up to fourth.

In their last game, City suffered a last-minute loss to Villa after a Louie Barry hat-trick. Wright’s side went one behind early on, recovering the score with a nicely worked team-move to equalise.

Despite going ahead shortly after, it was Villa who would take all three points after a penalty and tidy finish from Barry in the second-half.

The Canaries last faced Palace earlier in the 2020-2021 season, cruising to a 3-0 win over the Eagles. Even through torrential conditions, an own-goal, plus Josip Drmic and Tyrese Omotoye’s finishes were enough to secure the win over Palace at the Lotus Training Centre.

U23s defender Jon Tomkinson says the team are eager to get their first win of the year as soon as possible, adding that the team have learnt from their loss to Aston Villa in the build-up to this game.

“I think we’re very excited. Coming back from Christmas break, we had a very entertaining first game.

“There were a lot of good moments in there a lot of stuff we’ve learned from, we’ve already had our meetings and analysed it. We’re itching to get our first win of the year.”

“It was a bit heartbreaking, we worked so hard to get ahead and for that penalty to happen in that way, that was a bit deflating. We can always learn from these things and react better to avoid the situations in the future.”

Discussing their last meeting with Palace in the 3-0 win, Tomkinson believes that the team need to remain determined for the three points in this fixture and not drop their standards out on the pitch, especially if they want to earn a playoff spot by the end of the season.

“We have to do it again; we can’t get complacent. The best teams in the world are always hungry for more and don’t settle for what they are, they always want to be better, so we have to use that as an example and try to be the best we can.

“The goal is always the same, we want to win games, that’s part of promotion. You have to win your games, the more you win the better you do. Playoffs is part of our philosophy; we want to win games and if we do that we’ll be where we want to be.”

Match preview: Crystal Palace U23s v Norwich City U23s

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