ONEL & KIERAN ARE A BIG DEAL
In-form duo could now earn new contracts
Championship: 12.30pm
BY JON WEST
NORWICH duo Kieran Dowell and Onel Hernandez have been handed a double incentive to knock Burnley off their perch.
New Canaries chief David Wagner picks a team for a home league fixture for the first time today against the Championship leaders.
Dowell and Hernandez are set
to start after the German revitalised their Carrow Road careers. Both players were fringe men under previous boss Dean Smith, with Hernandez packed off on loan to Middlesbrough and then Birmingham last season.
But the deadly duo were on fire in successive four-goal away wins under Wagner, with Dowell netting twice at Preston and once at Coventry, where Hernandez was also on target. The attacking midfielders are out of contract at the end of the season.
But Wagner has indicated he would be happy to hand out new deals – if they carry on performing. He said: “First, they should perform like they have done, then we will sit together and discuss our thoughts. I can say I’m very pleased with both of them. “Obviously there is nothing decided. The focus is only the games in front of us. But if you perform, you get rewarded – as a team, as a club and as a player. This is what they need to do.”
Norwich will kick-off their lunchtime clash adrift of the play-offs. Victory would see them leap up to third, however, at least until the other top-six challengers complete their games.
Carrow Road will be buzzing at the prospect of seeing Wagner’s high-energy reboot of a tired City side for the first time.
The former Huddersfield boss was in the dugout for an FA Cup loss at home to Blackburn last month. But the 4-0 win at Preston and a 4-2 success at Coventry has got the fans believing promotion is possible.
Wagner, who has handed striker Adam Idah a new five-year deal, knows Burnley will provide a strong test of that theory. He added: “This is why I say it is about the performances, not the table.”