The real business gets underway at Norwich

Norwich City v West Bromwich Albion; Carrow Road, Saturday 15th August 2026, 3pm

After an encouraging pre-season and a comfortable victory in last weekend’s Carabao Cup tie, James Morrison’s new-look team face their first real test as they travel to Norwich City on Saturday for the season’s league opener. The Canaries also tasted success in the first round of the Carabao Cup as they dispatched League One MK Dons 4-1 at Carrow Road.

Philippe Clement’s side are amongst those expected to be challenging for promotion having enjoyed a superb second half to last season that took them from second bottom in late November to realistic play-off challengers in the spring. They earned 56 points from the last 30 games of the season which would certainly be enough for a play-off spot were it to be extended across a full season.

Clement has made just four signings over the summer, one of which will be very familiar to Baggies fans – former Albion midfielder, Sam Field, made the switch from QPR for an undisclosed fee and made his debut from the bench against MK Dons. Winger, Andre Brooks, has joined from Sheffield United and scored on his debut last weekend. His signing will go a little way in making up for the loss of Canadian international Ali Ahmed to an ACL injury last week – Ahmed scored his first goal for City in their embarrassing 5-0 win at the Hawthorns in February. 21-year-old Brazilian defender, Bruno Alves, has joined on loan from Cruzeiro for the season while their latest signing this week is Cameroonian international left back, Darlin Yongwa, who has joined on a free transfer from Lorient.

Albion’s summer business continued this week with the signing of 21-year-old French midfielder Rabby Nzingoula from Strasbourg. He is the club’s seventh senior signing of the window and brings some much needed competition to the central midfield positions. Mozza’s midfield formation seems to be a central defensive pair behind two further forward who float between central and wide areas. I would imagine that Nzingoula would compete with Diakité, Mowatt and Molumby for one of the defensive pair, albeit he is apparently comfortable further forward as well. Indeed, he has apparently played all through the middle from centre back to striker so offers plenty of flexibility.

It does seem as though Morrison may have to largely rely on the full backs to provide width and it is interesting that Mikey Johnston’s cameos as he builds up his match fitness have largely come as one of the front two rather than his traditional wide role. Given the number of goals that Albion have been scoring in pre-season, it does seem to be a formation that is working, although it has not yet been tested against a Championship defence. Mozza has said in the build up to this weekend’s game that the approach has been more the result of the players available to him rather than a desire to play without traditional wingers. With Johnston still building up his fitness, the narrow set up has been necessary, but the boss has indicated that he is keen to bring in at least one more wide option before the window closes.

Of course, playing without traditional wingers does not mean players do not get wide. Price, Whitwell, Morgan and Johnston have all popped up in wide areas and, indeed, the fluidity of the attacking formation can it make difficult for the opposition defence to pick up individual players. I’m assuming that Myhre will play as one of the attacking pair, although he, too, could play in a more defensive role if needed – I saw a heatmap of his games for Brann this season which suggested he largely played on the left side of midfield, similar to Price, so it will be interesting to see how those two play together, if indeed they do.

The one concern with the full backs providing the width is, of course, the susceptibility to the counter attack, something we did see in pre-season. That requires the defensive midfield pair to be able to cover quickly – that might mean that Mowatt’s presence in the first team might be limited given his lack of pace. Having said that, he was given the captain’s armband in South Yorkshire last weekend so I’m guessing Mozza sees him as a key player. I like Mowatt, he has great ability on the ball and his experience and composure are certainly valuable, but if Albion are to play a high intensity game in the Championship, I have my doubts as to whether he will be able to compete week in week out. He has now been linked with a move to Derby County and, while an initial bid has been rejected, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was allowed to leave.

That situation may inform Morrison’s squad selection for the trip to Norwich. I’d be surprised to see Mowatt start if there is a realistic prospect of him leaving, while I don’t expect new signing, Nzingoula, to be given anything more than a spot on the bench. Diakité would seem nailed on for a starting spot, probably alongside Molumby. The back four and ‘keeper are likely to be unchanged from the one that started at Rotherham while the front two of Morgan and Heggebø would also seem to be sure of their spot in the starting eleven.

The other question mark will be around the attacking midfield pairing – Price and Whitwell have been the regular starters up to now, but with Whitwell having been withdrawn at half time and new signing, Myhre, undoubtedly expecting to become a starter before too long, that is probably Mozza’s toughest call. Whitwell has been excellent in pre-season and, as he has now entered the last year of his contract, Albion will be keen to see him sign an extension – a continued regular involvement with the first team will certainly be a factor in that with other clubs, including Saturday’s opponents, apparently keen on securing his services. Such are the difficult decisions that a head coach needs to make.

Of course, all head coaches want to have a strong squad that will lead to such tricky choices, so I doubt Mozza will be complaining too much. I’m sure I’m like many Albion fans in feeling excited that there are a number of excellent options which will bode well for a long and challenging season – obviously, we hope that they prove to be as good as they appear to be. The real stuff hasn’t started yet.

That comes on Saturday. It’s a tough first game for the Baggies at the home of one of the form teams from the second half of last season, and it doesn’t get any easier as they welcome relegated Burnley to the Hawthorns the following weekend before a trip to Middlesbrough. Four or five points from those three games would be an excellent return.

That’s what my head says, but my heart is as optimistic as ever – the Canaries don’t stand a chance!

History

There was a time when a trip to either of the East Anglian teams was met with trepidation by Baggies fans. A 3-2 victory on Albion’s first ever visit to Carrow Road in September 1938 was ancient history by the time the team returned to Norfolk for a second division fixture in November 1972, and other then a brief spell in the early eighties, Norwich was a place of pain for the Albion travelling fans until the second half of the nineties. Back-to-back wins in ’81 and ’82 almost, exclusively due to Cyrille Regis’s goalscoring prowess, were sandwiched by a run 11 visits that produced four draws and seven defeats.

After Regis’s hat-trick in 1982, it was another treble in February 1997 that produced Albion’s next win at the home of the Canaries. Paul Peschisolido was the man who scored three, with Richard Sneekes also scoring in a 4-2 victory for Ray Harford’s team. Since then, the Baggies have earned a further eight victories at Carrow Road in seventeen league visits, losing just five, albeit the Baggies have lost both cup ties at the venue in that period.

Indeed, between 2007 and 2018, Albion won six of their seven away league games at Norwich, the outlier being the 4-0 defeat in the Premier League in May 2013. Since the thoroughly entertaining 4-3 victory in 2018 that I spoke about in last seasons’ preview, however, the Baggies have recorded three defeats (including the FA Cup defeat in February), one draw and one victory – the 1-0 victory thanks to Josh Maja’s goal in October last year.

Stat Attack

Current Form

All competitions; most recent game on the right

Last matches

Last meeting

14 Feb 2026 – FA Cup 4th Round
Norwich City 3 (Maghoma, Chrisene, Touré)
West Bromwich Albion 1 (Maja)

Last win

1 Oct 2025 – League Championship
Norwich City 0
West Bromwich Albion 1 (Maja)

Albion’s Record against Norwich City