Bristol City v Norwich City Betting Tips: High-scoring game expected at Ashton Gate

Two shaky defences go up against each other on Tuesday night as relegation threatened Bristol City play host to a Norwich side who’ve been all out of luck in recent weeks.

This season been a tale of two halves for Norwich. In the attacking half of the pitch, the Canaries have thrived and are currently the second-highest scoring team in the entire division; however, at the other end, Alex Neil’s men have been nothing short of abysmal and have now conceded no less than 53 goals in 35 games – only two teams have conceded more.

Unsurprisingly, in being so effective at one end of the pitch and anything but at the other, Norwich find it hard to avoid high-scoring encounters and are fancied to be involved in yet another one here. At odds of 5/4, ‘Over 2.5 Goals & Both Teams to Score’ is a bet that’s hard to ignore.

Given the forward quality in their ranks, coupled with their scoring exploits already this season, you’d have to fancy Norwich to some damage against almost any team in this league, but, at the same time, it’s almost impossible to expect a clean sheet from the Canaries, regardless of opposition, such has been the nature of their defensive displays. Neil’s side have failed to score in just four of their 18 away matches this season, but have kept just two clean sheets during that time. On top of this, a rather large 78% (14/18) of their away matches have seen at least three match goals hit the net, while both teams have scored in 72%.

In terms of goals, Bristol City don’t quite match up to the visitors, then again, not many teams do. Lee Johnson’s men haven’t scored with the same regularity as their opposition here, but they are capable of hurting teams on their day and have often created chances without being able to apply the finish. Against the woeful defending of Norwich, this could easily change.

Although the hosts should get plenty of chances to find the back of net on Tuesday night, you’d have to fear for them from a defensive point of view. Johnson’s side have kept five clean sheets at home this season, but they’ve only managed one shutout in their last six, and two in their last ten. With Norwich finding the net in each of their last five on the road, as well as each of their last 11 overall, the chances of Bristol City keeping a sixth clean sheet in front of their own fans are pretty slim.

With such frail rear-guards on show, the onus is likely to be on the forward players in this match and the goals are expected to flow.

Neither side are in good form right now, so financially investing in either to come out on top isn’t wise; however, considering Norwich are seemingly drawn to goal-filled encounters like a moth to flame, a low-scoring match doesn’t seem likely and thus backing ‘Over 2.5 Goals & Both Teams to Score’ is very much the way for punters to go.

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