Norwich City continued their excellent form with a hard-fought 1-0 win away against Charlton Athletic, with Pelle Mattsson’s early strike enough to seal all three points for the visitors.
Mattson’s return from injury has clearly lifted both Norwich’s performances and energy levels.
The twenty-four-year-old Dane got off the mark for Norwich, with a low strike in the first half that nestled into the bottom right corner of the goal.
Under Phillipe Clement, he has arguably been Norwich’s best player and his ball-winning skills and natural aggression were clearly missed during his absence.
The Canaries will hope to keep him fit and firing for the rest of the season.
Clement has praised the talent Mattsson possesses , although he has recognised that it was be a struggle to keep him at the club in the future.
Speaking in a pre-match press conference, just after Mattson’s return, the Belgian stated “I hope we, as a club, grow fast enough that we don’t lose him along the way and he just follows the road that we want to go.”
After the latest round of fixtures, Norwich have moved up to tenth position in the table and now sit on fifty-four points.
They remain nine points off of the play-offs, with both Southampton and Wrexham on sixty-three points, occupying sixth and seventh place respectively.
However, with only seven games remaining, finishing in the play-offs now seems a task too far, even for Phillipe Clement.
The Canaries will be left to rue their missed opportunity in midweek against Southampton.
When Norwich’s lineup was released at 13:45, the unlikely inclusion of Liam Gibbs at right back raised a fair few eyebrows.
It meant two players were operating out of position, with Kellen Fisher pushed to the left back position as a result, whilst Sam Field, with previous left back experience was left on the bench.
Liam Gibbs has proved to be a utility player since switching sides of East Anglia, filling in anywhere from defensive midfield to striker.
However, he had never played in the backline before his second-half introduction at right back against Southampton.
He produced a solid performance and subsequently kept his place at right back.
Against Charlton, Gibbs produced a vital block to thwart a dangerous attack and provided an outlet at times for the Canaries going forward.
Norwich are yet to concede whilst Gibbs has been part of the defence.
This is yet another example of Clement guiding Norwich expertly through their injury crisis and it seems that he can play anyone anywhere and they will perform for both him and the team.
