The Championship returns this weekend after 14 weeks away it’s finally back as the Baggies head to Carrow Road to start their 2026-27 Championship Campaign after beating League Two side Rotherham United in the Carabao Cup last weekend.
The long wait is finally over, with league action returning on Friday night as recently relegated Wolves take on Tony Mowbray’s Blackburn Rovers.
Then, it’s time for the Baggies to return to Championship action as they head to Carrow Road, looking to pick up where they left off in pre-season. James Morrison’s side remain unbeaten and have already enjoyed a positive start to the competitive campaign, securing a place in the second round of the Carabao Cup for the first time since 2022.
Albion have since been handed a huge second-round tie, with Morrison’s men drawn away to Newcastle United.
Facing Norwich City at Carrow Road would be a tough task and the biggest of yet but it’s the opening day of the season and it shouldn’t be a worry for both sides of teams, both sides are evenly matched but we haven’t done good against Norwich in recent memories.
Player To Watch – Norwich City
The Championship is finally back, and as the Baggies prepare to head to Carrow Road, there is one Norwich City player who immediately stands out as a major threat: Andre Brooks.
The summer signing from Sheffield United looks to be a very great addition for the Canaries. Brooks arrived at Norwich with Championship experience already under his belt, and he wasted absolutely no time making an impression in competitive action.
His Norwich debut came in last weekend’s Carabao Cup clash against MK Dons, and what a debut it was. Brooks got himself on the scoresheet and also provided an assist as Norwich cruised to a 4–1 victory at Carrow Road.
That is exactly the sort of start that will have the Baggies’ defence on alert.
From a West Brom perspective, Brooks is the type of player you simply cannot afford to give too much space to. He has the pace and attacking ability to cause problems out wide, while his willingness to get involved and make things happen makes him an obvious outlet for Norwich.
And then there is the player alongside him who could make things even more difficult.
Player To Watch – West Brom
After an impressive pre-season, Jimmy-Jay Morgan has wasted absolutely no time showing Baggies fans what he can bring to the team — and now the new signing has the perfect opportunity to continue that form when West Brom travel to Norwich City.
Morgan has enjoyed a really encouraging start to life at The Hawthorns, and that form carried straight into his competitive debut against Rotherham United in the Carabao Cup last weekend.
The striker produced exactly what Albion fans want to see from their new attacking option, scoring twice in the 4–1 victory over the League Two side. His first came inside eight minutes before he completed his brace just after the hour mark with a header from Callum Styles’ cross.
But the Rotherham game wasn’t an isolated performance.
Morgan had already found the net five times during pre-season, giving Baggies supporters plenty of reasons to be excited about what could be ahead for the youngster.
My Line Up V Norwich
Line Up over Norwich in the opening game, Max O’Leary would come in goal as the back four would have Nolan Galves in right back, a back two of Campbell and Phillips alongside Callum Styles as left back.
In Midfield I have Ousmane Diakité and Felix Horn Myhre and in attacking midfield I have Harry Whitewell and Isaac Price and in a front two Jimmy-Jay Morgan comes in with Aune Heggebo.
Prediction V Norwich City
Lets make a Prediction over Norwich City, I think it be a difficult game at Carrow Road we haven’t got good results over them in recent meetings but last season we secured a 1-0 win with a Maja goal and after then we was humiliated 5-0 at The Hawthorns and a Cup defeat 3-1 away at Norwich last season under Eric Ramsay.
Now with Morrison in charge, I feel more confident on Saturday if we do get a result here. I say in the first opening minutes the hosts would get a goal early with Andre Brooks scoring on his debut to give the Baggies a nightmare start.
I say in the next half hour of the game, Norwich would control the game and we wouldn’t see any action from the Baggies until near half-time, our opportunity would come before the whistle as Felix Horn Myhre would make a smart cross for then Jimmy-Jay Morgan to strike past Vladan Kovacevic to give the Baggies an equaliser at the interval.
Second half, we look to try and get in front with a few opportunities for Heggebo and Jimmy Jay-Morgan trying to get a brace with the Norwich keeper making a few good saves, around the 75th minute Heggebo would come off for Barney Stewart and around the 82nd minute he scores with Isaac Price setting up the new Striker from Falkirk to put the Baggies in front for the first time in this game.
Around 5 minutes of added time, we look certain to win this one but Norwich do like to score early but they also love to score a late goal and they would from a last-gasp corner as Andre Brooks’s corner would set up for Harry Darling to make a header to end the game level pegging at Norwich.
Norwich 2-2 West Brom
Goalscorers for Norwich City: Andre Brooks, Harry Darling
Goalscorers for West Brom: Jimmy-Jay Morgan, Barney Stewart
I know plenty of people will look at this fixture and think it’s a tough ask for the Baggies, especially with Norwich having home advantage at Carrow Road. But honestly, I do think Albion can come away with something on our day.
This is the opening game of the Championship season, and I don’t think there is a huge amount between these two sides. Norwich might look the stronger team on paper, but football isn’t played on paper — and there are still plenty of unknowns about this new-look West Brom side.
One of those unknowns is our new attacking options in Jimmy-Jay Morgan and Barney Stewart.