Queens Park Rangers and Norwich City will take a break from Championship action this weekend to meet in the EFL Cup first round after topsy-turvy starts to life in the 2023/24 season for both sides.
Norwich have managed to win one game and draw in the early stages of the Championship season, defeating Hull City by the narrowest of margins on day one.
The Canaries saw Jonathan Rowe score that day for Hull in added time of the first half in a comeback win, but it was Adam Idah who stole the show with a 96th-minute winner.
David Wagner's side would play out a stunning 4-4 draw with Southampton last weekend, as they took the lead through Josh Sargent after seven minutes. They would then fall 2-1 behind before Gabriel Sara equalised.
Norwich would take a 3-2 lead with another finish from Rowe and end up grabbing a 4-3 lead in the 84th minute through Christian Fassnacht.
An equaliser from Southampton in the 97th minute of the game, however, earned a point for Wagner's side.
As for QPR, it's been an up-and-down ride for them so far in the Championship with the club losing to Watford 4-0 on the opening day.
Worse yet, the London side managed to concede all four goals within the first half that day.
QPR would defeat Cardiff city on the road in the last outing, as Sinclair Armstrong scored inside 34 minutes of the game before a decisive goal from Kenneth Paal.
Cardiff would equalise with 14 minutes left on the clock, but after a tough season last time out, it’s vital that the R’s got off and running early on.
These two sides met at Loftus Road towards the end of last season in the Championship, so it has only been four months since they last met one another.
Lyndon Dykes scored that day for QPR before Adam Idah netted an equalising goal.
The return fixture back in November saw the game end in a 2-2 draw with only three shots on target for each side.
This is also the only League Cup game of the week with all the other EFL Cup first round ties being played last week.
Forebet now predicts a draw here and for the game to see over 2.5 goals, as no side has kept a clean sheet just, just as the Canaries let in four away to Southampton on four days ago.