The Championship‘s weekend fixtures kick off with Norwich hosting Oxford United at Carrow Road.
Our tipster, and EFL guru, James O’Rourke, is all over the clash, and he’s got four picks in mind. Let’s get into James’ Norwich v Oxford betting tips.
Norwich v Oxford Bet Builder tips
Josh Sargent to have 2+ shots on target
Borja Sainz to be fouled 2+ times
Borja Sainz to score or assist
Ciaron Brown to commit 1+ fouls
- A Bet Builder with these selections pays at approximately 13/1 with Paddy Power. CLICK HERE TO ADD IT TO YOUR BETSLIP.
WHEN: Friday, 7th of March, 8pm
WHERE: Carrow Road, Norwich
TV: Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football
Josh Sargent to have 2+ shots on target
The USA international was out injured for just under three months earlier in the season before returning to action in January. He has certainly been making up for lost time. Across his last seven starts, Josh Sargent has netted a total of seven goals, including twice scoring a brace in home matches versus bottom-half opposition. Oxford, beware.
The goal return is special, but the number of times he works opposition goalkeepers also stands out. Those seven strikes came from making 11 shots on target in that period of time. In four of those encounters, he had a minimum of two shots on target in the game, and he has done so in eight matches over the campaign this season.
Sargent and Borja Sainz really are the two standout individuals in this Norwich squad, at least from an attacking perspective. The game plan really is to get these guys on the ball in and around the final third.
Sargent will be relishing the chance to try and extend his league goal tally beyond 11 versus an opponent in poor form. He is a born finisher, and with the fact that he is slightly overachieving his individual league xG suggests he scores different types of goals. It is a rarity that he doesn’t work the opposition keeper on at least a few occasions based on recent showings.
Borja Sainz to be fouled 2+ times
As already mentioned, Borja Sainz is another huge weapon in the Norwich arsenal.
The winger has enjoyed a season he probably wouldn’t have expected. Despite serving a six-match ban for spitting during the season, he remains the joint-top scorer in the Championship with 15 goals. He is the definition of a direct and skillful wide player that no opposing player will relish facing.
This is proved by the amount of fouls he has been drawing. The Spaniard is unsurprisingly the most fouled player in the Norwich squad in league action in 2024/25. There have only been five matches all season in any competition where Sainz has not been on the receiving end of a foul, and this is out of 32 appearances. In exactly 50 of those, the former Giresunspor man has drawn two or more fouls.
Across the last three matches, Sainz was fouled three times against Hull, four against Stoke, and twice last time out away at Blackburn.
It is pretty clear and obvious there is a game plan from opposing managers to really get stuck into him, possibly to try and force a reaction that may get him sent off. Also, he is simply a top player, and if Oxford are to get the kind of result they want, then keeping the forward quiet is paramount.
Borja Sainz to score or assist
The Sainz love-in continues, which really indicates his importance to Norwich. It could be argued he is still warming his way back into action following his ban, which covered an entire month. He has made four appearances since returning, only making one assist and not scoring in that time.
However, it hasn’t been for the want of trying. He has averaged 3.25 shots and 1.00 shots on target, so he is certainly getting closer.
Two assists in his last five games doesn’t read too badly either, albeit the first came prior to his suspension. He hasn’t actually scored since November, but even going that far back, he can count himself a little unlucky for that to be the case.
Remember, he isn’t on penalties, so all of his goals have been effectively created by himself through his mazy runs cutting in from the left. This shows he really is the type to create something out of nothing, which may be needed, knowing Oxford will likely sit back and aim to be tough to break down.
Despite the lack of recent goals, he is still averaging 0.5 goals per league match this season. It’s surely only a matter of time before he starts making headlines again for the right reasons. Norwich tend to save their stronger performances, and better results for Carrow Road, and facing a team battling relegation should afford Sainz the chance to make a serious impact on proceedings.
Ciaron Brown to commit 1+ fouls
Injuries to Greg Leigh and Joe Bennett have left Oxford a little short in the left back department. However, Ciaron Brown has plenty of experience here having started the season in this role under previous manager Des Buckingham. Gary Rowett had solely utilised him in central defence up until last weekend’s home loss to Coventry, where Brown reverted to full back.
To be fair, he can do a decent job down the left, but he is surely more comfortable centrally. It showed a little last time out as he made two fouls in the Coventry clash.
It now means that in the last three matches in which he has started at left back for Oxford, he has committed two or more fouls. The other two occasions were in November when Buckingham was still in charge. During his stint at centre back, he would rarely commit this number of offences per match; only twice for his club this season, in fact.
It would usually be Lewis Dobbin Brown would directly be up against, but injury has since ruled him out for the rest of the season. Therefore, it could well be that top player Borja Sainz shifts from left to right side to go up against the Northern Irishman, but it’ll more likely be Ante Crnac. The Croat was a scoring sub away to Blackburn last time out, so Brown will still have his work cut out.
Norwich v Oxford Bet Builder tips
Josh Sargent to have 2+ shots on target
Borja Sainz to be fouled 2+ times
Borja Sainz to score or assist
Ciaron Brown to commit 1+ fouls
- A Bet Builder with these selections pays at approximately 13/1 with Paddy Power. CLICK HERE TO ADD IT TO YOUR BETSLIP.
*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.
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