Norwich City will face a familiar foe in Tottenham Hotspur as they step up preparations for the resumption of the Premier League season with a friendly fixture later this week.
Daniel Farke’s men are continuing to increase their fitness work ahead of the restart of the top flight, with warm-up matches identified to allow City’s squad to experience football behind closed doors.
It’s understood the Canaries will face Spurs at an undisclosed venue, with both clubs keen to ensure supporters do not congregate outside.
City are also set to play an in-house friendly at Carrow Road as a dry run of what a behind closed doors, socially distanced match-day fixture will look like.
The Premier League ruled that teams would be allowed to play friendlies, providing they maintained a 90-minute distance from their own stadium. City’s geographical location means that finding a suitable competitor is more complex, meaning they would have sought permission to play a friendly with the North London club.
Farke’s men are ramping up their training programme ahead of the opening fixture of the restart versus Southampton on June 19 - having already played Spurs away from home twice this year, narrowly losing 2-1 in the league in January but winning a penalty shoot-out after a 1-1 draw in the FA Cup fifth round shortly before football’s suspension.
Southampton boss Ralph Hassenhuttl put pen-to-paper on a new four-year contract last week, with City legend Craig Fleming, who is first-team coach at St Mary’s, and goalkeeping coach Dave Watson, who worked at Carrow Road alongside Chris Hughton, also signing extensions to their current deals.
Similarly to City, Hassenhuttl has been putting his squad through their paces at the club’s home stadium, to prepare for football without crowds.
The Bundesliga, who were the first European league to resume last month, opted not to allow their teams any friendly fixtures, with a high-number of injuries being reported since the restart.
Arsenal beat Charlton Athletic 6-0 at the Emirates on Saturday and Aston Villa faced West Brom in friendly fixtures - with City set to follow suit as they build momentum.
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