Coventry City play host to Norwich City on Saturday afternoon looking to build on their recent unbeaten run in all competitions. At a time when the Sky Blues sit in 10th position in the Championship standings, Norwich are down in 20th spot after successive draws.

Coventry may only sit in 10th position in the table right now but Mark Robins will be satisfied with how his team are progressing during the early weeks. Since an opening-day defeat at Stoke City, the Sky Blues have recorded three victories and one draw in all competitions, the stalemate coming at Bristol City. Bizarrely, though, Coventry have already played the same opponents twice on two occasions this month, the Robins and Oxford United being their ties in the EFL Cup.

On Tuesday night, the Midlands outfit overcame Oxford by a 1-0 scoreline in that competition, Brandon Thomas-Asante getting his first goal since moving from West Bromwich Albion. Coventry have now failed to score more than once in four of their five fixtures this campaign, something that Robins will demand improves going forward.

Johannes Hoff Thorup needs Norwich to develop in more than just one area of the pitch having overseen a turbulent first few weeks at Carrow Road. Positives can be taken from earning draws against Blackburn Rovers and Sheffield United in the Championship, despite being ahead on both occasions. However, a total of 12 goals have been conceded in five matches, a third of those coming versus Crystal Palace in the EFL Cup second round on Tuesday night. While Thorup will insist that Norwich remain a work in progress, defeat here may leave them sitting in the relegation zone during the international break.

Coventry's Form and Team News

Thomas-Asante will hope to be rewarded for his goal against Oxford with a start in the final third for Coventry. Kasey Palmer could also be rewarded for his contributions in the last two games with a place in Robins's first XI. Tatsuhiro Sakamoto and Jack Rudoni may be the players to drop out of the team.

Norwich's Form and Team News

Having made wholesale changes for the Palace defeat, Thorup should revert to a similar side from the draw with Sheffield United. Amankwah Forson is proving to be an important player in the number 10 role for the Canaries, the 21-year-old already having two assists to his name. Oscar Schwartau may have to wait for his first start on the back of his transfer from Brondby last weekend.

Team Lineups

Coventry City possible starting lineup: Dovin; Van Ewijk, Latibeaudiere, Binks, Bidwell; Eccles, Torp; Thomas-Asante, Palmer, Wright; Simms

Norwich City possible starting lineup: Gunn; Stacey, Duffy, Doyle, Chrisene; Nunez, McLean; Crnac, Forson, Sainz; Sargent

Match Preview

Robins will feel that he is starting to get the best out of his Coventry side at a time when the same cannot be said of his opposite number. With that in mind, we are backing the Sky Blues to come through this contest with another three points.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

Key Players to Watch

Two USMNT forwards go up against each other this weekend in the Championship with Haji Wright's Coventry City playing Josh Sargent's Norwich City. Both players will be eager to impress knowing that the Stars and Stripes are set to have a new head coach in Mauricio Pochettino.

Wright has already scored twice in the Championship this season with both goals coming in Coventry's second league game which was against Oxford United. Sargent also has two goals in the league this season. He has scored against Blackburn Rovers - in a match where he also got an assist - and versus Sheffield United.

Both Coventry and Norwich were in action in the EFL Cup this week. The Sky Blues beat Oxford 1-0 but Wright was rested on the bench in this game. Sargent was also rested for Norwich but had to watch his side lose 4-0 to Crystal Palace of the Premier League.

Where to Watch the Game

The Coventry against Norwich match will be on the CBS Sports Golazo Network. It will kick off at 7:30 a.m. ET on Saturday, Aug. 31. The game will take place at the Coventry Building Society Arena in Coventry, England.

You can watch CBS Sports Golazo Network for free via the CBS Sports app, with a connected app. Paramount+ is a streaming service that shows series, films and sports. The sports they show include the NFL, Champions League, Serie A and the Championship.  Paramount+ offers a seven-day free trial. You can subscribe with plans for $5.99 per month or $59.99 for the whole year.

In the United Kingdom, the Championship will be broadcast on Sky Sports with highlights on ITV. In Canada, certain Championship games will be shown on DAZN. If you want to watch the Championship in Australia then selected games will be on beIN Sports and beIN Sports Connect.

Thorup's Focus on Defense

Johannes Hoff Thorup will admit he is not ‘the most patient guy on earth’ but the Norwich City head coach wants to see more signs of Championship progress at Coventry City. The Canaries crashed out of the League Cup against a Crystal Palace featuring many of their Premier League big hitters. The City chief expects the Sky Blues to present another stiff challenge on the road.

“I don't think people would describe me as the most patient guy on earth, but I try to be, and I have to be, because building a style of play you cannot do everything just overnight,” he said. “You cannot do everything in one week.

So what we did against Sheffield (United) is that we started to work on our low defending and how our position should be. And it was actually the first time that we did that, which we also brought to the Palace game, which, of course, will also be the future for us when we defend lower. That was a good step. We didn't concede many chances against Sheffield, and we were solid defensively.

“It's going to be a tough one. What's important is that we can bring the same attitude, the same mentality that we played with against Sheffield, against Palace, especially on the ball, so that we can go to Coventry, we can take control over the game, and that will be important for us, because I think if it's going to be a game where we have to defend too much, that’s not in our favour.

The approach we have seen the last couple of games is also going to be the approach for Saturday.”

Thorup is wary of the hosts’ attacking threat. “They have some powerful players up front, and they have some strong players up front,” he said. “You can talk about defending that, or you can talk about actually avoiding that by being on the ball, because then you limit the situations that they actually have. That's the approach that we're going to take.

Of course, we need to make sure that we are defensively prepared as well, and we know how they create chances, because it will obviously happen in the game and we have to make sure that it's not too many times.

I watched them actually last season, where they did well in the FA Cup and had some very, very good performances. This is definitely a game where we have to be on our toes, but I'm confident that what I've seen so far in this group is we can take the next step, and that next step will also get us a win on Saturday.”

Thorup was prepared to give Amankwah Forson every chance to declare himself fit for duty after a dislocated shoulder injury scare against the Eagles. “It seems like that he will be able to play for some minutes in this game. That is quite unexpected,” said the City boss. “Looking at when he slipped, and also looking back at it again on the video after the game, it didn't look that good, but straight after the game he was in an okay mood and we were a little bit surprised.

The shoulder was put back in straight away actually on the pitch. But of course, we had to do a scan and see how everything looked like. And it was positive news, because he's not really in pain. He was actually back on the training pitch (on Thursday) and we just have to wait and see how he came through the sessions.”

Thorup indicated he had no fresh fitness concerns following the midweek cup mauling and confirmed both Christian Fassnacht (Achilles) and Jacob Sorensen (foot) are set to miss the next five weeks. The Dane made seven changes to his cup line up but wants no repeat of that defensive sloppiness with league points at stake in the Midlands. “I was not pleased with the goals that we conceded, because, with all due respect to Palace who are a good side and they have fantastic players, I think it's too easy,” he said. “We give these goals away.

I'm not satisfied with the first one, where we don't really follow our principles in the game, and we should do better and take better decisions. The second one is individual top quality, which you can expect, of course. But the third and the fourth I'm not satisfied with.

There's definitely some moments in the game where I think we should have done better and that was also why I was a little bit annoyed with the performance. I'm pleased with the performance on the ball, and I liked the approach after their first goal that we just kept on going, and actually even better than in the beginning.”

Coventry's Confidence

Mark Robins says a win over Norwich City this weekend would make it a decent start to the new campaign for his Sky Blues. The pair face off in a lunchtime kick-off today, with Norwich looking for their first Championship win against a side which has won one, drawn one and lost one.

“Tomorrow is a difficult game, and they’ve always proved difficult opponents, so I think it’s a really good test, as they all are,” Robins told Coventry’s official channels. “We’re expecting a big crowd again, it’s in front of the cameras, 12.30pm kick-off and we’ve got a brilliant opportunity going into the international break and if we pick up three points it’s been a decent start for us.

They’ve got good players. They’ve got new management from last season; they’ve got new players, and they’ve also lost some. They look like they might add today, so who knows if they make the squad tomorrow, but regardless of that, they’ve got some really good experience and they’ve got some good talented players, as you would expect,

We expect a tough game, but we will concentrate on us and hopefully that will be enough to put in a good performance, because we will need one to get something from the game.

We don’t want to be talking after the game having not performed to the level that we’re capable of doing.

I’m looking forward to seeing what this group can do moving forward. They look confident and hungry, they’re young, but they have some real talent.”

Josh Eccles (Image: PA Images)

Norwich are unbeaten in their last eight league games against the Sky Blues, something midfielder Josh Eccles is determined to change. “Norwich will be a tough game, but if we get the win against them then we can look back at the start and it’s not been a bad start,” he said. “They’re our bogey team, so if we can get the win, it could set us up for the season.”