Norwich v Leeds: Prediction, Tips and Odds

Norwich and Leeds are both dreaming of a return to the top-flight and will get the Championship play-offs underway with their first-leg clash at Carrow Road.

Leeds had the better of this season’s league meeting between the clubs, winning 3-2 at Carrow Road last October and 1-0 at Elland Road in January.

But Norwich will be hoping to turn the tables in the matches to come and Dan Childs has picked out his three best bets for their meeting in East Anglia.

Norwich are 11/5 to secure an advantage before next Thursday’s trip to West Yorkshire, but Leeds are the 6/5 favourites to register an away victory.

Norwich v Leeds betting tips and predictions

Norwich to win - 11/5

Norwich have excelled at Carrow Road, taking 49 points from 23 games, and they can make home advantage count by defeating Leeds in their play-off semi-final first leg.

The season has been a slow-burner for the Canaries, who were 13th at the turn of the year having lost 11 of 25 fixtures.

There was talk of an imminent change in the dugout with David Wagner far from universally popular among the Canaries fanbase, but a corner was turned in early January when Christian Fassnacht’s 88th-minute goal secured a hard-fought 2-1 success away to Hull.

Norwich’s success at the MKM Stadium lifted them back into the top half and they soon moved on to pushing towards the play-off places.

An extended campaign was not confirmed until the final day of the regular season, but Norwich have looked more like a promotion-chasing side in recent months and they approach the post-season with plenty of confidence.

Leeds’s build up to the play-offs has been nowhere near as smooth.

Daniel Farke’s side have been striving for automatic promotion and they appeared to be on course when they reached the top of the table in the run-up to Easter.

However, the business end of the season brought about a dramatic drop-off in performance with only two victories secured among the last eight matches.

Leeds were still in the shake-up with two games to go but they suffered an embarrassing 4-0 loss away to QPR and rounded things off with a 2-1 defeat at home to Southampton.

Farke has had the best part of a week to lift spirits and try to plot a path forward but his team seem to have lost their belief and they may struggle to get it back.

Leeds will have fond memories of their October trip to Carrow Road when they came from two goals behind to register a 3-2 victory, but they will be up against a more resilient opponent this weekend.

Norwich have been growing in stature since the halfway point of the season and they look overpriced 11/5 shots to establish an advantage before their trip to Elland Road.

Josh Sargent to score any time - 5/2

Teemu Pukki was the star turn in Norwich’s last couple of promotion-winning campaigns but a new goalscoring hero has emerged for the Canaries this season  with American forward Josh Sargent netting 16 league goals.

Sargent is a different type of forward to Pukki, who was an out-and-out goalscorer, but his pace and movement have troubled Championship defences.

The 24-year-old was sidelined by an ankle injury between August and December and his loss was tough to take for a club still coming to terms with Pukki’s summer departure.

However, Sargent was better than ever upon his return to the side and his 13 league goals between January and the end of April were key to Norwich’s rise up the standings.

Sargent approaches the playoffs in excellent shape and he looks a worthwhile 5/2 wager to grab a first leg goal.

Norwich to score over 1.5 goals - 7/4

Norwich are the Championship’s fifth-highest scorers with 79 goals and 43 of them have come at Carrow Road.

The Canaries have notched two goals or more in 13 of their 23 home league games and they look overpriced 7/4 shots to score over 1.5 goals against Leeds, who seem to have forgotten how to defend.

Leeds have looked disorganised in recent weeks and have shipped nine goals across their last three fixtures.

Norwich v Leeds odds

Norwich - 11/5
Draw - 12/5
Leeds - 6/5

Read Norwich v Leeds: How to watch, TV channel, kick-off time, head-to-head stats and team news here

This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.