Former City striker Tony Cottee has backed the Canaries to finish in the top two and bounce back into the Championship at the first time of asking.
The West Ham and Everton legend was in the Sky studios at the weekend, summarising City’s big 1-0 at Wycombe, and according to Cottee, Leeds and Norwich are on course for an big promotion knees-up come May.
Now that the Carrow Road club occupy that coveted second spot, it’s going to take a big effort for a Charlton or Colchester to wrestle it away from them.
“It’s a strong division, and I don’t think Southampton will be too far away, but you’d expect Leeds and Norwich to be the two that will go up.
“If you go and watch Norwich as a neutral or sit and watch them in the studio like I do, then you would definitely say they are going to do very well.
“I think they have quality all over the field. Norwich have got the experience with the likes of Gary Doherty – he’s a big strong centre-half.
“Adam Drury has done the rounds; Darel Russell is another who has been playing for a long while. They’ve got the experience and that little bit of quality in the final third.”
The former Canary – who made just seven appearances after Bryan Hamilton brought him to Norfolk in September 2000 – did, however, warn that it’s not going to be plain sailing for Paul Lambert’s men.
The third tier has never seen so many famous names. Promotion to the Championship is going to be well-earned for whoever makes those top two spots.
“Charlton won’t be too far away, and as I said, Southampton are pushing up as well, Huddersfield also. It’s a very competitive league this year.”
Talking after watching the Canaries dispatch Wycombe at Adams Park last Saturday, Cottee admitted there was a large difference in quality between the two sides, despite the narrow margin of victory.
And he revealed his admiration of City’s ‘Three Musketeers’ – Messrs Holt, Hoolahan and Martin. Canary followers will certainly be hoping that no clubs come sniffing during this month’s transfer window.
“I think there was [a big gap between the two teams]. Wycombe did OK, they worked hard enough but they just didn’t have anything up front.
“Norwich had the extra quality with the likes of Grant Holt and Chris Martin – who I think is a decent player. They also have Wes Hoolahan who was the man of the match.
“His little one-two and then cut back provided an easy finish for Korey Smith and I thought Hoolahan was definitely the top player on the pitch.
“Wycombe threatened to score but when it came to the final third, you always felt that Norwich were going to get that goal.”
Leave a Reply