Norwich City vs Leicester City - FA Cup Match Preview

The fifth round of the FA Cup – where the gleam of the trophy starts to become a little more than a silver speck on the horizon.

The fifth round of the FA Cup €“ where the gleam of the trophy starts to become a little more than a silver speck on the horizon. This afternoon Norwich City welcome Leicester City to Carrow Road with an air of cautious optimism around the place. With even the most pessimistic of Canaries fans seeing relegation as a thing of the past, could the home side be in a secure enough position to put everything they have into this cup run? Two promotions in two seasons and currently sitting pretty in 8th place in the Premier League, one more miracle doesn€™t seem all that impossible under Paul Lambert. Not that he€™s getting too caught up in FA cup fever: €œManchester United is probably the priority. Adam (Drury) had a bit of a groin. (Elliott) Bennett just got a knock in a block tackle, but the good thing is now we have a bit of respite before we play Manchester United.€ The playoffs are starting to look beyond the Foxes sitting as they do in 12th place. Can they afford to put a great deal of emphasis on this game when they desperately need to pull themselves into contention for a top six finish in the Championship? Nigel Pearson wanted to get the visitors€™ season back on track: "I wasn't very happy on Tuesday night (following a 3-2 loss to Watford) and neither were the players, so it's an opportunity to put that one to bed and it's a game we're looking forward to.€ By no means a walkover, this one €“ if the managers were to be believed they both had eyes firmly set on the league season. However, we€™ll see this afternoon whether the luring call of Wembley is too tempting to overlook.

Team News

Norwich City: Kyle Naughton is eligible after being given the go ahead by parent club Tottenham Hotspur, James Vaughan may be in contention after a good run of form ion the reserves following an injury earlier in the season. Daniel Ayala and Zak Whitbread are both out. Leicester City: Sol Bamba and John Pantsil are both available after returning from the African Cup of Nations, and Nathan Delfouneso is eligible thanks to his parent club Aston Villa being knocked out in the last round.

Probable Line-ups

Norwich City (4-4-2): Steer, Naughton, Barnett, R Martin, Drury; Bennett, Fox, Pilkington, Surman; Holt, Jackson Leicester City (4-4-2): Schmeichel; Peltier, Mills, St Ledger, Konchesky; Gallagher, Drinkwater, Wellens, Dyer; Nugent, Beckford

My Prediction:

A 24 place gap between the teams, but I just can€™t see this City side becoming complacent when they€™ve already invested a fair bit of effort into the tournament so far. With one loss in their last nine games, I€™m going to go for a 3-1 home win.
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