Manchester City
- Manchester City have won four of their last five games, with four successive wins.
- The Citizens are in great form, having won six, drawn one and lost three of their 10 games in all competitions to date.
Norwich City
- Norwich City are also in good form, winning four of their last five matches and two Championship games in a row.
- The Canaries have won their last two Championship matches, beating Sheffield United 3-1 away and then Birmingham City 2-1 at home.
- They are no longer the pushovers of a few years ago and still have enough quality to punch through on the counter-attack.
Key Players
- Philippe Clement has them set up as a compact 4-2-3-1 that can narrow into a 4-4-2.
- They spring into vertical passes off the target man to get into space and that can be a problem for City's more possession-based approach - although Maresca's side will look to pin Norwich back.
- On the flip side, Norwich can really trouble City when they win the ball back because of the space behind the inverted full-backs and central overloads that Maresca likes to create.
Betting Insights
Over 2.5 goals at 1.28 isn't the best price for an outcome that will almost certainly happen with Erling Haaland and co. on fire, but Both Teams to Score: No at 1.77 does offer some value given Norwich have scored five goals in four away matches so far.
Prediction
- Manchester City are on a roll at the moment and should see off Norwich City quite comfortably in the EFL Cup 2026-2027 at Etihad Stadium on Thursday.
- City should win the game because they have the quality to make things happen in terms of creative play and finish, while Norwich can't really hurt them when they have possession.
- But there should be some chances for Norwich on the break, so there could be a few goals at the Etihad.