Teemu Pukki and Ivan Toney square off as the Championship’s top two meet at Carrow Road

Two of the Championship’s three top scorers will be on show as Norwich City look to extend their lead over second place Brentford to ten points.

The Canaries currently hold a seven point lead at the top of the Championship table after securing a 2-0 win away at struggling Wycombe over the weekend. It means that Daniel Farke’s side have won five consecutive matches, setting the bar incredibly high for the rest of the second tier.

Brentford remain their closest rivals after coming from behind to defeat Stoke in their last game. The Bees fell behind after just 27 seconds, but goals from Vitaly Janelt and Ivan Toney saw them pick up all three points at the Brentford Community Stadium. Their result, coupled with defeats for Watford and Swansea, gives them some breathing space in the automatic promotion places for the time being.

With the two sides meeting at Carrow Road on Wednesday evening, the magnitude of the clash cannot be ignored. A win for the hosts would see them race into an almost insurmountable position at the top of the Championship, while three points for their West London opponents would see the gap at the top cut to just four points.

The match also pits two of the Championship’s three top scorers against each other. Brentford’s Ivan Toney remains top of the chart, having found the back of the net 25 times in just 32 games, while also contributing with nine assists. This means that he is just six goals away from breaking Glenn Murray’s record of 30 Championship goals in a single season.

As it stands, the closest anyone has come to breaking Murray’s record from 2012/13 was Teemu Pukki, who scored 29 goals for Norwich as they won the Championship title in 2019. The Finnish international has scored 18 goals in 29 appearances so far this campaign, putting him third in the chart behind Toney and Blackburn’s Adam Armstrong.

In fact, Brentford seem to be quite similar to that promotion-winning Norwich side of 2019. The Bees have scored an astonishing 61 goals so far this season, way more than anyone else in the division. But the 35 goals they’ve conceded is the second most of any team in current the top six, highlighting a clear issue in their defensive organisation.

Norwich, on the other hand, are a much more balanced outfit than they were in their last Championship campaign. Their attacking forces don’t feel quite as sharp as they did two years ago, but they look much more confident at the back than they did then, having conceded just 25 goals in their 33 league games this season. There are fewer gaps to exploit, and opponents find it much harder to break the Canaries down.

But some teams have shown that it can be done. Middlesbrough’s intense press and astute defending saw them leave Carrow Road with a goalless draw, kickstarting a three-match winless run for Farke’s side which culminated in a 2-0 defeat away at Swansea. It is possible to sit back and frustrate Norwich in order to grind out a result, although the Bees are unlikely to implement that game plan on Wednesday evening.

The Brentford boss, Thomas Frank, explained that Norwich have “found the perfect balance in what they do.”

“We could show in that specific game that we are the better side, but it is going to be a completely even game and the form on the day – and maybe a bit of brilliance – will decide the game.”

“I expect to see a game between two sides who want to dominate, want to take control of the game and want to take the initiative.”

“We played a good game against each other in the reverse fixture; I am massively looking forward to this challenge”.

Farke has tried his best to play down the importance of the game, adding that the Canaries are already 11 points further than Leeds United were at this stage last season. Dropping points against the Bees would be far from disastrous, especially with Todd Cantwell ruled out of the match with a calf injury. But a win would truly nail down their position in the automatic promotion places ahead of the run-in.

The stakes are much higher for Brentford, who will be desperate to avoid the playoffs after last season’s capitulation. Results over the weekend has allowed them to build up a gap over their nearest rivals, but both Watford and Swansea remain hot on their tails as the Championship promotion race approaches an intense and fascinating climax.

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