Preview: Fulham vs. Norwich City - prediction, team news, lineups

At a time when the home side occupy 11th place in the Premier League table, Norwich have recently dropped down to eighth position in the Championship.

Match preview

Without Aleksandar Mitrovic in their side, life for Fulham was always going to be much tougher in their second season back in the Premier League.

However, Marco Silva can be more than satisfied with the Cottagers' start to the campaign, collecting eight points from their opening six fixtures despite only scoring on five occasions.

Aside from the surprise 3-0 reverse at home to Brentford on August 19, Fulham have generally accumulated the points that they would have anticipated.

A 1-0 victory over Luton Town was followed by a goalless draw at Crystal Palace on Saturday, a result that has kept them ticking over in the right direction.

Fulham reached this stage of the competition by coming through their London derby with Tottenham Hotspur, prevailing in a penalty shootout after a 1-1 draw.

Meanwhile, Norwich are playing away from home in this season's EFL Cup for the third time in a row after already travelling to Queens Park Rangers and Bristol City.

On both occasions, David Wagner's team came through by a 1-0 scoreline, but the Canaries' form has dropped off alarmingly since the second of those triumphs.

Three defeats have been posted in four outings - their solitary win coming by a 1-0 scoreline against out-of-sorts Stoke City - and eight goals were shipped in two Championship fixtures last week.

After losing 2-0 at home to Leicester City in midweek, Norwich conceded six times at Plymouth Argyle, the East Anglian outfit finding themselves 5-0 down in 59 minutes before they eventually went down 6-2 to the League One champions.

Fulham EFL Cup form:

W

Fulham form (all competitions):

L

D

W

L

W

D

Norwich City EFL Cup form:

W

W

Norwich City form (all competitions):

W

W

L

W

L

L

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Team News

While Silva will rotate his Fulham squad, the Portuguese will still select a strong side that he feels can make further progress.

Alex Iwobi may be handed a first start for the club, as may Fode Ballo-Toure who also signed during the closing hours of the summer transfer window.

Calvin Bassey, Tom Cairney, Harry Wilson and Carlos Vinicius will also expect to be named in Silva's team.

Wagner will inevitably make changes after the debacle at Home Park with Adam Forshaw expected to be handed his first start for Norwich in midfield.

Przemyslaw Placheta and Onel Hernandez should both feature in the final third, while Sam McCullum and Liam Gibbs are also in line for recalls.

However, Danny Batth is unable to make his Canaries debut having already represented Sunderland in this season's competition.

Fulham possible starting lineup:

Rodak; Castagne, Diop, Bassey, Ballo-Toure; Iwobi, Reed, Cairney; Cordova-Reid, Vinicius, Wilson

Norwich City possible starting lineup:

Long; Stacey, Duffy, Gibson, McCullum; Forshaw, Gibbs; Hernandez, Ui-Jo, Placheta; Idah

We say: Fulham 3-1 Norwich City

Each team will probably make changes for this contest, throwing open the possibility of any result occurring at Craven Cottage. However, we can only back the home side, who have players in their squad who will want to impress in games such as this one.

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