Norwich City’s Championship prospects appear in rude health, according to one leading bookmaker.

Daniel Farke’s new side were installed by William Hill as joint second favourites for the title on Wednesday, following the highly-anticipated release of the league fixtures.

City’s German head coach embarks on his English adventure at Fulham on August 5, striving to end a wretched winless run for the Canaries stretching back to 1986 and Kevin Drinkell’s winner at Craven Cottage.

Both clubs feature prominently in the market to lift the title, with Norwich and Middlesbrough priced at 8/1 behind the Cottagers and Steve Bruce’s Aston Villa at 7/1. City is as short as 11/4 to earn promotion back to the Premier League, and a good test of their top flight credentials may come in Farke’s first home league game, against recently-relegated Sunderland.

The ex-Borussia Dortmund II coach knows he is on a steep learning curve after opting to embark on the next phase of his career in Norfolk.

“That is why it is a big challenge,” he said. “With my ideas and my philosophy I have to get used to it and adapt to it and bring my own ideas and principles within that. It is an exciting relationship for the club and me as a German coach. Yeah, of course, so many games and the football and the matches will have big differences, even compared to the Premier League.

“In Germany there is a real high respect for English football. We all know it is the motherland of football and when you watch the English games all the Germans always talk about the crowd, the atmosphere, the closeness to the pitch. You look at what David Wagner has done (at Huddersfield) and he has been really successful with a club that had low potential. He has created something special. We had some different ideas about football and what happens on the pitch but he was so content and really liked being here and working in England.”

Farke’s first taste of that special East Anglian derby atmosphere must wait until October 21, and a scheduled league trip to Portman Road. Ipswich is priced as big as 80/1 to lift the title or 20/1 to seal promotion and end a run of 16 consecutive seasons in the second tier.