Academy Preview | Norwich visit north London

Our Under-21s are back in action on Saturday (1pm UK) as they host Norwich City in another Premier League 2 clash.

Last time out, Wayne Burnett's young side fell to a frustrating 2-1 defeat against Derby County and will be looking to get back to winning ways against the Canaries.

We currently sit 22nd in the table and come into this knowing a win will take us back within touching distance of the play-off positions.

The Canaries, though, have the same target. Currently sat 18th, a win could take them as high as 14th as we enter the second half of the regular league season.

Coverage

This game is not being broadcast live on SPURSPLAY, but we'll keep you up to date via the Spurs App & socials, with a full match report to follow after the final whistle.

You'll also be able to watch the highlights of the game later on in the day while SPURSPLAY subscribers will have access to a full 90-minute rerun of the clash.

The Opposition

Norwich came into this season looking to bounce back from a campaign which saw them narrowly miss out on the play-offs by just two points.

This season started in perfect fashion back for the Norfolk outfit back in August with a dominant 6-1 win over West Bromwich Albion, however a run of three consecutive defeats followed.

Back-to-back wins against Southampton and Sparta Prague followed in September before being edged out in an eight-goal thriller, where they took the lead but eventually fell 5-3 to Manchester United.

A win against Reading and a draw against Bristol City in the Premier League Cup kicked off October, before Alan Neilson's side went three games without scoring, beaten by Sunderland, Manchester City and Nordsjaelland all without reply - shipping 10 goals in that run.

Back-to-back defeats against Bromley and Exeter in the Premier League Cup continued a poor run of form, before rescuing a late point against Bristol City in their final group game at the end of November.

Back-to-back wins against Aston Villa and PSV Eindhoven with consecutive clean sheets followed, but the calendar year ended in defeat, losing 3-1 at home to Middlesbrough.

That leaves the Canaries 18th in the league with four wins from their opening 10 games, having found the net 18 times but conceding 2.4 goals on average per game.

A winless Premier League Cup campaign saw them finish bottom of Group A with just two points from six games, picking up draws against third-placed Bristol City as Exeter and Bromley both did the double over them.

However, City are fourth in their Premier League International Cup group, just a point behind Group C leaders Fulham and have a game in hand on Sparta Prague, who are directly ahead of them, with that win against PSV at the start of December keeping them within touching distance of progressing in the competition.

The Canaries haven't competed in the Vertu Trophy or the National League Cup this season, so their playing record in all competitions so far is played 18, won six, drawn two with 10 defeats. In that time they've scored 28 and conceded 36 and this will be their first game of 2025.

One to watch

With six goal involvements in eight Premier League 2 appearancesm Errol Mundle-Smith will definitely be on our defence's radar.

Mundle-Smith joined the Canaries in September, 2023 from Croydon after a successful trial and went on to notch 16 goals in his maiden campaign, and towards the end of the season was a regular fixture in the Premier League 2. This included an eye-catching hat-trick at that level in a 4-1 win at Aston Villa in April, 2024.

He bagged a goal and an assist in the season opener against West Brom and, after two games without scoring, bagged a brace in a 3-2 win over Southampton in September, following it up by getting on the scoresheet again against Manchester United.

His most recent league strike was the winner against Reading in October, whilst he's also been on target in both the Premier League International Cup and the Premier League Cup, scoring against Sparta Prague and Bristol City respectively.

The last five...

We're looking for our first home win against the Canaries since September 2010, a game that saw Tom Carroll, Jesse Waller-Lassen, Kudus Oyenuga and Harry Kane all on target.

Despite that record the sides are evenly matched over our last five meetings, with two wins apiece and one draw, and a late goal from Will Lankshear secured all three points for us last time out.

16 March, 2015 - Premier League 2: Spurs 0-2 Norwich

15 October, 2015 - Premier League 2: Norwich City 2-3 Spurs (Bennetts, Loft & Walkes) 

11 March, 2016 - Premier League 2: Spurs 1-2 Norwich City (Miller)

18 January, 2019 - Premier League 2: Norwich City 2-2 Spurs (Oakley-Boothe & Roles)

3 November, 2023 - Premier League 2: Norwich City 3-4 Spurs (Santiago, Lankshear (2) & Soonsup-Bell)