The big preview: Norwich City return to Premier League action against Southampton
It's been a long wait, but Norwich City will finally resume their Premier League campaign on Friday night when they host Southampton.
Of course, the match will be played behind closed doors, but Canaries fans will still be with their team in spirit and will be cheering them on from their homes and gardens.
On the pitch, nothing but a win for Daniel Farke's side will do as Norwich try to launch an unlikely survival bid.
The Canaries were bottom of the league and six points adrift of safety when the season was suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic, but with nine games still left to play, all hope isn't lost just yet....
Team news
Norwich were dealt a huge triple injury blow this week with the news that defenders Grant Hanley, Sam Byram and Christoph Zimmermann will all miss the rest of the season through injury.
That means the Canaries will have no natural defensive cover for the rest of the campaign, with Max Aarons, Jamal Lewis, Ben Godfrey and Timm Klose their only four options.
Klose himself has only just returned from a long lay-off because of a serious knee injury, and although there are fears about his match sharpness, he will now have to play a pivotal role for the remainder of the campaign.
Any further defensive injuries would probably mean midfielder Alex Tettey would have to fill in at centre-back, or the Canaries would have to give a debut to one of their academy prospects.
Midfielder Marco Stiepermann will also miss the game after he was forced to sit out much of training this week.
The German initially tested positive for Covid-19, but was then allowed to resume training in the latter half of the week following two negative results.
As for Southampton, striker Shane Long is unlikely to feature after suffering a back injury, and winger Moussa Djenepo is suspended.
How were both teams doing before the break?
Norwich's last game before the season was suspended was a 1-0 defeat at Sheffield United on March 7.
The Canaries had plenty of chances to at least force a point in the closing stages at Bramall Lane, but found goalkeeper Dean Henderson in inspired form.
Before that though, they beat Leicester City at Carrow Road and also knocked Tottenham out of the FA Cup so Daniel Farke will be hoping his side can replicate those kind of results.
Southampton were on a poor run of form before the suspension, losing four of their last five, but a great string of results before and after Christmas has probably secured their top flight status for another year.
What have the managers had to say?
Norwich Head Coach Daniel Farke is targeting five more wins to keep his team in the Premier League, starting with Southampton on Friday evening.
Norwich have only won five league games all season, but Farke is still optimistic they can pull off the seemingly impossible.
“We are the underdog, without any doubt, we have the most complicated situation of all competitors because we have the lowest amount of points so for that we’re not naive,” he said.
“We have nine games and if we are capable to win at least five games then we will stay in this league. It’s unbelievably complicated for us as a newly-promoted side to manage this but it’s still possible."
In contrast, Southampton have probably alleviated any relegation fears they had and now sit in mid-table.
However, before football was suspended, they had lost four of their last fives games and manager Ralph Hasenhüttl is looking forward to a fresh start.
“It’s a lot of games over a short term and one of the reasons we’re looking forward to this period now," said Hasenhüttl.
"We know how Norwich want to play, strong in possession, so that means we have to be very good and organised, which hopefully we will be.”
Norwich City v Southampton, Premier League, Friday 19 June, 6pm
The main talking points from Daniel Farke's pre-match news conference via Zoom