One of the more intriguing games not involving a Premier League side in this weekend’s FA Cup lineup takes place at Carrow Road where Norwich City face Bristol Rovers.
Norwich City are having an up-and-down season in the EFL Championship this year as they find themselves bang in the middle of the table.
They’ve fluctuated through periods of good form and bad form and right now they’re in a fairly rocky stage where they come into this game having failed to win any of their last three games.
Their most recent game did produce a pretty positive result, however, as they took a point off 3rd place Southampton on home soil, with Josh Sargent notching an equaliser in the 78th minute.
Their form at Carrow Road has still been strong over the course of the last five games as they come into this one unbeaten in that period, winning three of those.
Norwich are generally pretty effective at this stage of the FA Cup Cup having won three out of their last four Third Round matches, and given the outlier came in a defeat to Blackburn Rovers last season they’ll want to rectify that here.
Bristol Rovers could very well prove a tricky opponent for Norwich so they’ll have to be near their best in this one.
Bristol Rovers are having a solid season in League One as they currently sit 10th in the table.
They started the campaign fairly badly but then parted ways with manager Joey Barton, and things have improved notably since Barton’s departure with the Pirates rising up the league table under Matt Taylor.
They’re coming into this game in decent form having won three of their last five games, but their latest outing produced a pretty disappointing result as they were beated 3-2 away at Wycombe Wanderers.
Their away form in general is hit and miss, with Taylor’s side having lost three of their last five games on the road.
Bristol Rovers haven’t reached the fourth round of this competition since 2008 and have exited at this stage on give occasions since then, so they’ll be deseprate to break that run here.
While they’ve improved notably since the exit of Joey Barton, Bristol Rovers are still short of the level required to be deemed a concrete playoff contender so they’ll be looking to this competition to help boost morale within the squad.
They’re the clear underdogs for this one but an upset is far from a long shot.
For our Norwich vs. Bristol Rovers prediction, we’re going for a 2-1 win for the home side.
Don’t forget to check out the rest of our previews, tips and offers for this weekend’s action.