Norwich vs Aston Villa: Premier League preview, team news, stats, predictions, kick-off time

Team news, stats and prediction ahead of Norwich vs Aston Villa in the Premier League on Tuesday (kick-off 7.45pm).

Team news

Norwich will be without defender Grant Hanley for the foreseeable future with the shoulder injury he suffered against Manchester United at the weekend.

Hanley joins Andrew Omobamidele (back), Christoph Zimmermann (ankle), Mathias Normann (pelvis) and Milot Rashica (groin) in sitting out Tuesday's clash with Aston Villa.

Christos Tzolis also remains absent while he isolates with Covid-19, but defender Ben Gibson (thigh) should be fit while Brandon Williams is available again having sat out Saturday's loss against his parent club.

Norwich provisional squad: Krul, Aarons, Gibson, Williams, Gilmour, Lees-Melou, McLean, Pukki, Idah, Gunn, Kabak, Giannoulis, Rupp, Dowell, Cantwell, Sorensen, Sargent, Byram.

• Premier League fixtures | Table | Results

Aston Villa are the latest club to be hit by a coronavirus outbreak and they will be without a couple of unnamed players at Carrow Road.

Marvelous Nakamba will also be absent after suffering a knee injury in the defeat at Liverpool, with the midfielder set to see a specialist on Tuesday to determine the full extent of the problem.

The news is another injury blow for Villa, who last week lost Leon Bailey for a number of weeks with a quad problem.

Aston Villa provisional squad: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Mings, Targett, McGinn, Ramsey, Buendia, Watkins, Steer, Hause, Young, Tuanzebe, Sanson, El Ghazi, Chukwuemeka, Luiz, Philogene-Bidace, Archer, Ings, Davis, Iroegbunam.

Last time out...

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

How to follow

Follow Norwich vs Aston Villa in our dedicated live match blog. Highlights will also be published on the Sky Sports digital platforms and the Sky Sports Football YouTube channel shortly after full-time.

• Download the Sky Sports Scores App: Apple | Android
• The UK's No 1 scores app: Find out more

Jones Knows prediction...

When you add up all the ingredients and important match variables for this one, it could get proper tasty.

Dean Smith faces his former club knowing Norwich really have to start winning these matches if they have any chance of putting a successful survival bid together. It's hard to make a case for the Canaries though when you factor in their wastefulness in front of goal. Just one goal in their last four means they remain the Premier League's worst attack with just eight scored. An away win is fancied.

Aston Villa's games usually are played at a fierce tempo which leads to cards. An average of 4.24 cards per 90 minutes in their fixtures across all competitions show that. I'd expect this game to go down that route.

The man in the middle also is relevant when talking up the possibility of cards. David Coote is one of the Premier League's strictest referees who lays down the law using cards rather than common sense at times. He has taken charge of eight Premier League games this season and is working at a gigantic average of 5.75 cards per 90 minutes, showing 22 yellow cards and a red in his last three games at the top level. Bookings are fancied here and the Evens for 50+ booking points does the job.

SCORE PREDICTION: 0-2

BETTING ANGLE: 50+ booking points (Evens with Sky Bet)

Opta stats

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

• Norwich have lost six of their last seven Premier League games against Aston Villa, with the exception being a 2-0 home win in December 2015.
• Aston Villa won 5-1 in their last away league game against Norwich in October 2019, having lost each of their previous four at Carrow Road before this (though three of these were in the Championship).
• Norwich have never won a Premier League game on a Tuesday before (D4 L11), with only West Bromwich Albion playing more games on a specific weekday without victory in the competition (32 on Tuesdays).
• Aston Villa have won their last two Premier League games on a Tuesday, though this is their first such match since July 2020 (1-0 vs Arsenal). They last won more consecutively on this weekday in the division between January 2008 and December 2009 (4).
• As well as being the Premier League's lowest goalscorers this season (8), Norwich have failed to score in a league-high 10 games so far, and have had the fewest shots on target (49) in the division.
• Aston Villa have kept just one clean sheet in their last 14 Premier League away games, doing so in a 1-0 victory against Manchester United at Old Trafford in September.
• 76% of Aston Villa's Premier League goals this season have come in the second half of games (16/21), while Norwich have netted a league-low three times after half-time this term.
• Norwich boss Dean Smith was in charge of Aston Villa for 11 Premier League games this season - this will be the 32nd occasion of a manager taking charge of a Premier League match both for and against a side in the same season, and first since Mark Hughes did so for and against Southampton in 2017-18. Smith will be the third manager to take charge for and against Aston Villa in a single Premier League campaign (also Ron Atkinson in 1994-95 and Stuart Gray in 2001-02).
• Aston Villa striker Danny Ings has scored in all three of his Premier League games against Norwich, doing so in September 2015 with Liverpool and in both of Southampton's games against the Canaries in 2019-20.
• Aston Villa's Emiliano Buendía played for Norwich between 2018-19 and 2020-21, and was the Canaries' leading chance creator (83) and assister (7) in his solitary Premier League campaign in that run. He could become the sixth different player to score a Premier League goal against Norwich having previously played for them in the competition, after Chris Sutton, Efan Ekoku, Ruel Fox, Harry Kane and Nathan Redmond.

Domestic Super 6 IS BACK!

Do not miss your chance to land the £250,000 jackpot on Saturday. Play for free, entries by 12:30pm.