Norwich City

Chris Goreham
BBC Radio Norfolk commentator

Image source, Rex Features

What do Norwich need?

Norwich have been playing right-wing roulette this season. Lots of players have been tried but it's the one position that no-one has nailed down.

Johannes Hoff Thorup doesn't seem to fancy Christian Fassnacht or Liverpool loanee Kaide Gordon. Onel Hernandez tends to be used as a substitute.

What sort of business are they likely to do?

Owner-to-be Mark Attanasio has told fans there is money available to spend. It comes with the caveat that it must align with the transfer policy outlined by sporting director Ben Knapper in the summer.

City have been working on reducing the age of the squad and bringing in talent they can develop and sell for a hefty profit.

How successful have they been in recent January windows?

Any transfer talk around Norwich City always comes with the health warning that January is a difficult time to do business.

Last year they only signed striker Sydney van Hooijdonk on loan from Bologna. He didn't start a game or score a goal. The 10 substitute appearances suggested he might not be a chip off the old block.

But then Harry Kane didn't score any goals for the Canaries during his loan spell in 2012 either and he turned out ok.

Are there likely to be any notable departures?

All eyes will be on Borja Sainz. Norwich don't want to sell in January but he is the Championship's hottest property and top scorer. He only has 18 months left on his contract so a big money bid would test the club's resolve.

A couple of experienced players, Grant Hanley and Ashley Barnes, are out of contract in the summer. They may be interested in moves if they don't get much game time over the festive period.

How key is the window?

Sainz would be difficult to replace so that's a situation that Norwich might prefer to face in the summer, especially if the Spaniard's hot streak continues.

The vibe around the club is that this is seen as the first season of a new project under Thorup. Any deals would be about improving the depth of the squad and increasing the options.

Attanasio has set a goal of getting into the Premier League within the next five years so January doesn't feel make or break.

Norwich City welcome Queens Park Rangers to Carrow Road on Sunday in a clash between two sides with very different records as of late.

QPR sit 17th in the Championship, four points adrift of the 12th-placed Canaries. But with just one loss in their previous eight matches, the Rs have closed the gap between themselves and their upcoming hosts, who on Boxing Day picked up their first win in five to halt a recent slide down the league table.

Sunday's visitors also emerged victorious from the last meeting between these two sides, which finished 3-0 in west London earlier this month.

• Norwich have lost just one of their last 19 home league games against QPR (W13 D5), losing 1-0 back in September 2008.

• QPR have scored just one goal in their last six league visits to Norwich City (D2 L4) with Bright Osayi-Samuel scoring a penalty in a 1-1 draw in 2020-21.

• Norwich have won their final league game in just one of the last 13 calendar years (D6 L6), beating Aston Villa in the Premier League in 2015.

• QPR have ended the year with a league win in just two of the last 13 calendar years (D6 L5), winning 2-1 at Wolves in 2016 and 2-1 at Bristol City in 2021.

• Queens Park Rangers have won just one of their last 25 away league games against sides beginning with N (D10 L14), winning 1-0 at Nottingham Forest in December 2018.

Phil Daley
Radio Norfolk sports editor

Image source, BBC Sport

Norwich City will have the comfort of a home game this Boxing Day as they welcome Millwall in the Championship on Thursday (15:00 GMT).

Head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup spoke to the media on Tuesday - here are some of the key points from his news conference:

• Goalkeeper Angus Gunn is free to play after not receiving a ban for misconduct in the match at QPR.

• No new injuries, but they will miss Jose Cordoba after his red card against Sunderland on Saturday.

• Thorup says the Canaries are vulnerable at defending set-pieces at the moment and it's something they are addressing.

• On their recent poor form, he said: "We need to be clever. Finding the balance between pushing and settling for what we are capable of at the moment."

• On Millwall: "They are one of those teams that you can't switch off for even a second because they will punish you."

Listen to commentary of Norwich City v Millwall with BBC Radio Norfolk FM and DAB on Thursday from 14:00 GMT.

Norwich welcome Millwall with a less than stellar record in the Championship of late.

The Canaries have lost three of their past four league games, drawing once during that period.

Milwall ended a winless run of their own in style on Saturday, sealing victory over Blackburn and ending Rovers' six-game winning streak.

• Norwich City are unbeaten in their last 20 home league matches against Millwall (W13 D7) since losing 3-0 back in 1968.

• Millwall are looking to win consecutive league games against Norwich for the first time since 2001 when they won at Carrow Road 4-0 during the second of two wins.

• Norwich City have lost their last five league games on Boxing Day, scoring just one goal in this run. Two of their last three wins on this day have come against Millwall, however – 2-0 in 2009 and 6-1 in 2014.

• Millwall are unbeaten in their last six Boxing Day matches (W4 D2) since losing 1-0 to Walsall in 2015.

• Josh Sargent has scored in each of his two home Championship appearances for Norwich against Millwall, scoring three goals in total.

Image source, Rex Features

Norwich City goalkeeper Angus Gunn will be available for their games over the festive period after being fined £4,500 for misconduct.

The Scotland international admitted behaving in an improper manner around the tunnel area during the half-time interval in the game against QPR earlier this month.

A disciplinary panel decided, however, that a fine was sufficient punishment.

Team-mate Kenny McLean received a four-match ban for violent conduct during the same game, which Norwich lost 3-0.

The 24th-minute incident was not seen by match officials but the suspension was imposed retrospectively.

Image source, Rex Features

Norwich City head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup said he was unhappy with the way his side played, particularly in the second half of their 2-1 defeat at Sunderland.

Thorup told BBC Radio Norfolk: "I am not satisfied with the second half. One thing is the goal, we conceded after a set piece, that can happen, but I'm not happy with the 20 minutes after that when we were not solid enough, not consistent enough, too hectic and take silly decisions."

The Norwich boss also criticised Jose Cordoba for getting sent off for a second yellow card in the 70th minute.

"Jose needs to be more clever in that moment," Thorup said.

"It's a big factor of the game because it's not bad for us to be 1-1 after 65 minutes, that's an ok result in a difficult place to go. We were threatening on the counter. That was not good enough and of course changed the game for us and for them.

"The red card changes a lot, we had to make changes and change the formation and system and everything becomes more open.

"You have to stay away from that challenge, you cannot give the ref the option (to send you off). We could all see he was just waiting for that moment.

"You have to be more experienced and professional than that so you don't give him the option. Unfortunately it changed the game too much for us."