Chris Martin could come back to haunt Canaries in Derby colours

Only Brentford, Cardiff City and Ipswich Town have picked up more home points in the Championship than Derby County, so Coral make Steve McClaren’s men 11/10 favourites to get back to winning ways against Norwich City.

The Canaries have only earned on victory in five on the road, so Neil Adams’ Canaries are rated as likely to defeat Derby as get a draw (12/5). In Rams ranks is former Carrow Road frontman Chris Martin, and it is under ex-England coach McClaren at County that his career has sky-rocketed.

A 25-goal haul across all competitions last term led to a Scotland debut for Suffolk-born striker Martin. He’s on 14 from 26 Championship and League Cup outings combined this season already. Martin bagged a brace in his last home league appearance, a comprehensive Pride Park win over Brighton and Hove Albion, so a repeat performance or better here is a 6/1 shot.

Derby top scorer Martin is naturally shorter at 6/5 in the anytime market, and faces his old club for the first time since switching to the East Midlands outfit. Having netted in Norwich colours in this fixture before, he is well worth backing to do so for the hosts here, despite the Canaries keeping back-to-back clean sheets.

Another for Adams here is unlikely at 13/4, because only Millwall have stopped County from scoring on their own turf this season. Punters may feel that recent Rams defeats to Leeds United and Middlesbrough may have been damaging to their promotion hopes (they remain odds-on 4/6 favourites), but it’s important to remember these league losses have come away.

If the Canaries are to cause an upset, their recent theme of goals from midfield will be essential. Jonny Howson has three in his last five outings, and is a tempting 10/3 to strike again at anytime. Fellow engine room operator Bradley Johnson bagged a brace in Norwich’s previous outing, a 5-0 demolition of 10-man Huddersfield Town, so is a 33/1 shot for two goals or more, and 11/2 to net just once here.

As both teams have scored in each of the last five head-to-heads, backing a Derby win with Norwich also being on target is much better value at 7/2, than taking an outright win on McClaren’s men.