Statisticians would argue that there was an inevitability about Norwich City's 2-1 win over Sunderland when the teams met at Carrow Road in December.

You see, it transpires that the last away league win in this fixture came in August 1997, an incredible run which explains why Sunderland are installed as William Hill's 21/20 favourites to secure maximum points at the Stadium of Light.

Not surprisingly then, Norwich kick off as BetVictor's massive 14/5 underdogs to avenge the 3-0 defeat they suffered in the corresponding fixture last term.

That defeat was the widest margin of defeat suffered by either side in the fixture since 1984 and it means that only once in the pair's last 16 meetings have the teams been separated by more than one goal at the final whistle. In other words, single-goal margins of victory are the norm when the Canaries and the Black Cats meet.

It's perhaps for this reason that bet365's 4/1 for City to enjoy a win by one goal has proved so popular, although the draw, priced at 12/5 by Stan James, has attracted steady support. Not surprisingly, given this fixture's statistical history, backers have also been keen to take advantage of Skybet's 5/6 for both teams to score.

In other markets, Ladbrokes rate the chances of it finishing as a score draw to be a 13/4 shot and bet365 post an attractive 6/4 about Chris Hughton's men opening the scoring.

Elsewhere, the same firm consider the likelihood of the teams producing fewer than 2.5 goals at 4/5 and BetVictor's 15/2 for Norwich to register three points following a first half stalemate catches the eye.

It should be noted that the most popular outcome in the correct score markets is 1-1, priced at 13/2 by BetVictor, but punters who suspect that Norwich could win can get a hefty-looking 9/1 (Stan James) against City securing a 1-0 victory.