What were the key factors in our matches against Norwich City this season?

After an excellent win against Norwich City this weekend I’m naturally delighted – it’s not only halted our run of four league games without a victory, but is massive when you take into consideration how close the East Anglian side are to us in the table.

After losing to both Newcastle United and Aston Villa (hey, no laughing at the back!) we couldn’t afford to drop more points at home to a fellow relegation rival after all.

What really struck me while watching us play this weekend was how the game, in a strange way, was quite similar to our 3-1 defeat at Norwich City back in September – with the home team being largely dominant throughout and the away side pretty much failing to turn up.

So what were the main factors in this turnaround in results against The Canaries? Well…

New signings

In the game at Carrow Road Norwich saw their trio of summer signings - Robbie Brady, Matt Jarvis, and Andre Wisdom – combine to good effect and help give the Canaries their first victory at home in rather convincing fashion. After their lethargic showing this weekend many outlets are insisting they need new signings to stay in the Premier League though - how fickle football can be eh?

In comparison we’ve done a lot of business already this transfer window, with new signing Benik Afobe being a key factor in us winning the game this weekend – being an effective outlet up top and capping off his impressive display with a goal. Doing our transfer dealings so swiftly could have been a very shrewd move indeed.

The defence

In the game at Norwich I had to cover my eyes at some points in the second half, so suicidal was some of our defending. After seeing our back four cut to ribbons with such brutal ease it was a huge shock we only lost by two to be honest.

Fast forward just 3 months and suddenly we look far tighter at the back, holding firm despite Norwich throwing attacking option after attacking option off the bench. It seems we’ve finally found a back four that combines real solidity (Simon Francis and Steve Cook) with effective attacking intent (Adam Smith and Charlie Daniels) – and it’s great to see.

Junior Stanislas

In the game at Carrow Road playing Junior Stanislas in the first eleven was seen as a peculiar move by most AFCB fans, with Ritchie and Marc Pugh expected to be our two first team wingers after the recent injury to Max Gradel. This left field choice from Howe backfired to the surprise of no-one as well, with Junior putting in a display that could be described at best as non-descript.

This weekend he worked as a hugely impressive unit alongside the rest of the team though - going forward whenever possible and endlessly helping with his defensive duties to boot. The exact same thing could be said about any of our starting eleven on Saturday actually.

Wes Hoolahan and Cameron Jerome

In the game in September playmaker Wes Hoolahan was pulling the strings for Norwich and was the main factor in his team easing to a comfortable win. This weekend the Republic of Ireland international was nowhere to be seen however – and the game passed him completely by, with our tireless midfield trio making sure he had little time or space to influence proceedings.

A similar case applies for Cameron Jerome. He’s perhaps a rather limited player, but has always caused us a lot of problems in the past with his work-rate and physicality (opening the scoring against us this season at Carrow Road) – but fortunately the largely ineffective Dieumerci Mbokani got the nod over him this weekend, and by the time Jerome got onto the pitch we were already 2-0 up.