Staistical Betting Preview: Norwich vs Fullham

Norwich remained perched just above the relegation zone as they left the North East with a point following their 0-0 draw with Norwich last weekend.

John Ruddy continues to be left a little exposed at times this season, the Norwich ‘keeper ranking second in the league for saves this term with 63 to his name. Chris Hughton will be looking for his defence to provide him with a greater measure of protection this weekend against what can be a highly dangerous Fulham attacking line on it’s day.

Leroy Fer continues to look like one of the most astute signings of the last window, something that will no doubt please Chris Hughton and his staff. The dynamic midfielder has settled almost instantly into a position of authority in the Norwich engine room, attempting more tackles than any of his colleagues this season with 80. His nearest rival in this regard is Bradley Johnson, a full 37 attempts behind him on 43.

Gary Hooper has been carving out chances for himself with solid regularity this term according to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index. With a number of his appearances being made from the substitute’s bench, it’s perhaps even more impressive that he has managed to get a shot off on goal on average once every 53.8 minutes he’s been on the pitch this season. Hooper is 17/10 with 888sport.com to score at any time this weekend.

An improved Fulham performance could unfortunately still not prevent them from falling to a 2-4 defeat at home defeat to in-form Manchester City. Fans will have taken heart from a showing of greater grit and determination that they will have been used to at the start of the season though.

Fulham’s Martin Stekelenburg will be hoping for a slightly easier outing against Norwich than the one he had against Manchester City last weekend. The Fulham stopper saw his goal peppered with attempts from the Citizen’s array of attacking talents and was forced to make the highest number of saves of any goalkeeper in the last round of fixtures with 6.

Moroccan international Adel Taarabt was praised in the aftermath of Fulham’s defeat to City by manager Rene Meulensteen for his willingness to take the game to the opposition. Taarabt is never short on confidence or quality, as evidenced by some of his shooting statistics this season. He currently has the best shot accuracy rate of any Fulham player this term, finding the target with 90% of his 10 attempts so far. Taarabt is 17/4 to score at any time this weekend with 888sport.com.

Fulham fans will be hoping Dimitar Berbatov will be fit for their clash with Norwich as according to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, the Bulgarian is crucial to the functioning of their attack. Berbatov has completed 259 passes in the opponent’s half so far this season, showcasing the fact that whilst he may not always work hard without the ball, with it he is so important in linking up Fulham’s play in the final third.