Norwich City and West Bromwich Albion will open up their 2026/27 Championship campaigns with an intriguing encounter at Carrow Road on Saturday.
Both clubs will be heading into the season with plenty of fresh optimism as they seek to establish themselves as legitimate promotion contenders.
Norwich enjoyed a remarkable resurgence under Philippe Clement during the second half of last season, picking up more points than any other second-tier side in 2026.
The Baggies meanwhile will be hoping to build upon their much improved end to the campaign in which James Morrison masterminded a 10-game unbeaten run to help the Midlands side preserve their Championship status having been looming perilously close to the drop zone.
Ahead of this weekend's league opener, Football Betting Club's Jake Osgathorpe provides his best bets and tips.
Norwich City v West Bromwich Albion Tips
"I think there is going to be a lot of goals in this game," Jake said.
"Norwich ended the season remarkably well under Philippe Clement and picked up the fifth most points in the division after his appointment.
"West Brom were a weird team last season in the sense that they were in a relegation battle for such a long time, but their underlying data had them finishing in the top six -- based on expected points.
"They finished the season 10 unbeaten before losing against Sheffield Wednesday on the final day.
"But yeah, I think we have a proven commodity in Norwich coming up against a West Brom side that looks to have a lot of potential this season -- a lot of upside to them.
"I think this will be a good game and my best bet for this one is for both teams to score.
"At 4/5 it's a cracking bet for me given 23 of the 37 matches for Norwich under Clement have seen both teams score.
"They are an attack-minded team and it's worth noting that both of these sides scored a hat-full in the EFL Cup last weekend and conceded to lower-league opponents."
Kenny McLean to register 1+ assists @ 11/2
"Another bet that I really like the look of is Kenny McLean to register an assist at 11/2.
"Look, the hope is that he starts, which isn't guaranteed given the quality of the Norwich squad, but he was excellent last week against MK Dons, warming up nicely, creating five chances and getting an assist.
"He is overpriced for me given the fact that he finished as Norwich's highest assist-maker last season and also created the most chances and the most big chances among his teammates.
"The 53 chances he created across the 2025/26 season was twice as many as anybody else in the Norwich team so he was without doubt their creative hub."
Key Match Stats
Victory for Norwich City would see them beat West Bromwich Albion for a third successive time -- the first time since November 1995 they will have achieved that.
No Championship side has accumulated more league points than the Canaries this calendar year (44).
Sheffield Wednesday and Oxford United were the only clubs to have collected fewer away points in the Championship than West Bromwich Albion last season (19).
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All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.
