Stoke City 0-3 Norwich City – Clinical Canaries pounce on pitiful Potters performance.

It was a day to celebrate for David Wagner’s side, as Norwich City ran a dominant display against a defensively poor Stoke City, managed by Steven Schumacher.

Pre-match thoughts:

I spoke to some Norwich fans via Facebook to get their thoughts ahead of the away trip to Stoke. Andrew Iltud Jones, of Norwich, believes in a 1-1 draw today with the Potters, and Adam Blythe, also of Norwich, is inclined to agree. And with only three more games after today ahead of the second leg of the East Anglian derby, the Norwich fans are hoping for the good run of form to continue. Norwich average 2.16 points per game at home, compared to the away record of 0.94 points per game, so you can hardly blame the fanbase for being cautious against Stoke.

Personally, I thought it will be a dominant showing from the Canaries, especially with Stoke currently ranked 19^th in the league (before the game) in terms of home form, although the Canaries also rank 19^th in the league in terms of away form.

Match Report:

The Canaries opened the scoring through Brentford-linked striker Josh Sargent in the 24^th minute, with the 24-year-old American being touted as a potential replacement for Ivan Toney, should the English forward depart in the summer. That goal saw Sargent overtake young winger Jonathan Rowe as the club’s top goal-scorer so far this campaign.

Norwich played dominant football from the get-go, with Stoke City seeing very little of the ball in the opening 15 minutes. Wagner’s side played aggressive football that saw many opportunities in the first half, but the hosts were able to utilise a strong counter-attacking presence down the left-hand side of the pitch to challenge Norwich full-back Sam McCallum, who is filling in for the injured Dimitris Giannoulis.

A strong break against the flow of play saw Norwich float the ball over to the right-hand side of the pitch, and with an open back line from Schumacher’s Stoke, the ball was played back to Brazilian attacking midfielder Gabriel Sara and finished powerfully to the bottom right corner.

The third goal for Norwich City came via former Burnley man Ashley Barnes, who found the back of the net after some pinball football in the box. Stoke played better football in the second half, but it was too little, too late for Schumacher’s team, and the result sees the Potters only two points away from safety, with the threat of relegation to League One, the third division of English football, becoming a real possibility. The Canaries remain 6^th in the league, with a five point-gap to play-off chasing West Bromwich Albion, and three points ahead of 7^th placed Hull City, who do have a game in hand.

Norwich Facts:

This is the first time Norwich City have managed to keep a clean sheet and score at least three goals in successive games since beating Notts County and Liverpool 3-0 back in 1992 (via @ncfcnumbers on Twitter).

The result sees Josh Sargent overtake Jonathan Rowe in the club top goal-scorer race this season.

Gabriel Sara now joins a very exclusive list of only two other players to achieve double figures in goals and assists by April in this decade. The two other players being club legend Wes Hoolahan and current Aston Villa winger Emi Buendia.

Norwich now climb up to 15^th in away form in the league this season following today’s victory.