Norwich City

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Sheffield United striker Patrick Bamford has won the English Football League's player of the month award for December.

Bamford scored four goals across the Blades' six Championship games in December, including a double in their thrilling 5-3 defeat against Wrexham.

"I'm really happy. I'm surprised, I guess, a little bit because I wasn't ever thinking about any individual awards and that was the least of my priorities when coming in, but I think it's testament to the group and the staff and the players," Bamford said., external

"I know it's an individual award, but obviously, as a striker, you can't do it without your team-mates, so I owe a lot to them for that."

He beat Norwich forward Jovon Makama, Preston goalkeeper Daniel Iversen and Leicester midfielder Bobby De Cordova-Reid for the award.

Norwich City are set to battle Celtic, Brighton and Crystal Palace for 17-year-old Dundalk defender Vinnie Leonard who impressed for the Republic of Ireland in the under-17 World Cup. (Football Insider, external)

Want more transfer news from the EFL? Take a look at Friday's gossip column here.

Norwich City fans will need their sat-nav and road maps for this one as they head to Wrexham for a league match for the first time in more than 44 years.

They will face a Wrexham side on a four-game winning run and only one point short of the play-off places.

• Wrexham are set to host Norwich for a league game for the first time since September 1981. They have lost all three previous home league games against the Canaries, however.

• Norwich won five of their first six league games (D1) against Wrexham between 1958 and 1982 but they were beaten 3-2 at Carrow Road earlier this season.

• Wrexham have won their past four league matches, their best-ever winning run at this level of English football. Since 2004-05, the only newly-promoted Championship sides to win five in a row are QPR in 2004-05 (7), Leicester in 2009-10 (5), Bournemouth in 2013-14 (5), Brentford in 2014-15 (5) and Ipswich in 2023-24 (6).

• Norwich have kept just five clean sheets in their past 45 games in all competitions, and no side has fewer Championship clean sheets this season than the Canaries (2).

• Since Philippe Clement's first game in charge of Norwich on November 22, Jovon Makama has more goals in all competitions than any other Championship player (9 in 11 games), scoring an FA Cup third round hat-trick against Walsall last time out.

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Sheffield United striker Patrick Bamford and Norwich forward Jovon Makama have been nominated for the Championship's player of the month award for December along with Preston goalkeeper Daniel Iversen and Leicester midfielder Bobby De Cordova-Reid.

Bamford signed an 18-month contract with Sheffield United earlier this month having initially joined on a short-term deal in November.

The 32-year-old has scored six goals in 11 appearances for the Blades, including four in December.

Norwich's Makama is the Canaries' leading scorer this season with 12 goals in all competitions.

He scored twice in a victory over Southampton last month, once in a draw at Preston and the winner against Charlton - those goals worth a valuable seven points to a relegation-threatened Norwich side.

Iversen has kept eight clean sheets for Preston so far this season and vital saves against the leaders Coventry and Stoke in December helped the Lilywhites into fourth place.

With four goals in six games, meanwhile, De Cordova-Reid had a prolific December for Leicester as he scored in three successive matches.

The winner will be announced on Friday, 16 January.

Norwich striker Josh Sargent could be set for a move to MLS side Toronto who are preparing a bid of around £13.5m for the American international, 25. (Fabrizio Romano, external)

Want more transfer news from the EFL? Take a look at Monday's gossip column here.

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Former Norwich City defender Rob Newman has accused striker Josh Sargent of being "disrespectful" after making himself unavailable for their FA Cup third round tie against Walsall.

The Canaries won the game 5-1, but boss Philippe Clement afterwards claimed that Sargent had sent him a text saying he did not want to play "because of transfer things in his head".

The US international is contracted to Norwich until 2028 and the club say he will not be sold in this month's transfer window.

"That is how to go from a hero to zero in one text message, basically," Newman told BBC Radio Norfolk.

"You don't do that, no matter how good a player you are, what an icon, a legend you are, you just don't do that.

"I've never met Josh Sargent, but anyone who has spoken to him says he's the nicest guy in the world, so someone somewhere is advising him - and that is the worst piece of advice he will have received in his professional career."

Newman, who played more than 200 games for Norwich in the 1990s, added: "The club is bigger than anyone. If the manager doesn't want to play you, you go and speak to him face to face, but you don't send him a text message. For me, that's disrespectful."

Sargent has scored eight goals in 25 appearances this season, after starting it with six in the first five games.

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The 2025-26 FA Cup fourth-round draw will take place on Monday, 12 January at approximately 18:35 GMT.

Proceedings will take place before kick-off in the third-round tie between Liverpool and Barnsley at Anfield.

Former England internationals Steven Gerrard and Joe Cole will conduct the draw that will consist of 32 teams live on TNT Sports.

Supporters can also follow the draw on the BBC Sport website and app.

All matches will be played around the weekend commencing Saturday, 14 February.

Unlike in previous years, there are no replays if matches end as a draw. All ties will go to extra time, and if necessary, a penalty shootout.

Non-league Macclesfield are the lowest-ranked team in the draw after beating holders Crystal Palace in a remarkable 2-1 victory.

What are the ball numbers?

• 1. Wolverhampton Wanderers

• 2. Southampton

• 3. Aston Villa

• 4. Port Vale

• 5. Wigan Athletic

• 6. Ipswich Town

• 7. Wrexham

• 8. Chelsea

• 9. Manchester City

• 10. West Ham United

• 11. Brentford

• 12. Fulham

• 13. Sunderland

• 14. Liverpool or Barnsley

• 15. Burnley

• 16. Norwich City

• 17. Arsenal

• 18. Leeds United

• 19. West Bromwich Albion

• 20. Salford City or Swindon Town

• 21. Burton Albion

• 22. Grimsby Town

• 23. Hull City

• 24. Newcastle United

• 25. Oxford United

• 26. Leicester City

• 27. Birmingham City

• 28. Bristol City

• 29. Stoke City

• 30. Macclesfield

• 31. Brighton & Hove Albion

• 32. Mansfield Town

Pundits Dion Dublin and Phil Jones join host Kelly Somers to bring you the action and talking points from Sunday's FA Cup ties.

Watch on BBC iPlayer here

And listen back to selected full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

• Derby County 1-3 Leeds United

• Portsmouth 1-4 Arsenal

• Norwich City 5-1 Walsall

• West Ham United 2-1 Queens Park Rangers

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Norwich City boss Philippe Clement, speaking to BBC Radio Norfolk following the Canaries' 5-1 win against Walsall in the FA Cup third round:

"These are always tricky games against opponents from lower leagues. You saw several surprises in the past couple of days, so you need to take these games really seriously and the team did.

"Jovon is improving a lot. The staff is working a lot with him, like with the other players, with all the details of how to become better.

"He's already scored more goals [this season] than he scored last season in the lower league and that's positive.

"He needs to keep this hunger and desire to become better in every detail of his game because he's still a young player who can learn a lot, but he's showing good potential and I'm happy about that."

There are eight third-round ties in the FA Cup on Sunday - as Premier League and Championship teams enter the competition - and BBC Sport will bring you every moment.

• Derby v Leeds (12:00) - BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Radio Derby & BBC Radio Leeds

• Portsmouth v Arsenal (14:00) - BBC Radio 5 Live & BBC Radio Solent

• Hull v Blackburn (14:30) - BBC Radio Humberside & BBC Radio Lancashire

• Norwich v Walsall (14:30) - BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra 2, BBC Radio Norfolk & BBC Radio WM

• Sheff Utd v Mansfield (14:30) - BBC Radio Sheffield & BBC Radio Nottingham

• Swansea v West Brom (14:30)

• West Ham v QPR (14:30) - BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra and BBC Radio London

• Man Utd v Brighton (16:30) - BBC Radio Manchester and BBC Radio Sussex

Kick-off times GMT

Follow all of the action and reaction here

And find out how to follow the FA Cup across the BBC this weekend here

You can also listen to today's 5 Live commentaries on most smart speakers. Just say "ask BBC Sounds to play Derby County v Leeds United" or "ask BBC Sounds to play Portsmouth v Arsenal", for instance.

Find out more about how to listen to football on BBC Sounds

Phil Daley
Sports Editor, BBC Norfolk

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Norwich City head coach Philippe Clement has spoken to the media before their FA Cup clash with League Two side Walsall on Sunday (14:30 GMT).

Here are some of the key points:

• New signing Ali Ahmed has clearance to play but has not played a match in around four weeks. Clement suggests he is not match sharp after that long out, so will not be available on Sunday.

• Kenny McLean is 'touch and go'. He has a minor issue and should be fine for the following match against Wrexham.

• Papa Amadou Diallo is also back in full-training, but is also not fully up to speed so will not play. Clement said he has seen some good things from him this week though.

• Gabe Forsyth is also re-integrating with the first team after injury, but is further behind the others.

• Clement says this weekend will be a good opportunity to give more minutes to players he has not seen much of yet.

• On January: "It's a tricky window and you really need some luck. I hope we have a few choices and the recruitment team are working really hard. We will see what happens in the next few weeks."

• On the FA Cup: "I watched Match of The Day since I was a young boy and the FA Cup is a special competition. It's an important game for us. A lot of squads and teams make special memories in this competition and we want to go as far as possible. I hate if players or staff think any game is not as important as another as I want to build a winning culture."

• On Walsall: Clement says his players need to understand that it's a massive game. He won cups in Belgium and says some of the toughest games were against teams everyone expected them to win.

You can listen to full live commentary of Norwich City v Walsall with BBC Radio Norfolk on FM and DAB and online from 14:00 GMT on Sunday.

Image source, Norwich City FC

Norwich City academy manager Joe Shulberg has left the club to link up with former Canaries head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup.

Thorup was appointed by Austrian club Rapid Vienna on 30 December, his first management job since leaving Carrow Road last April.

Shulberg joined Norwich in 2017 and having become academy boss in the summer of 2023, stepped up to work with the first team on a temporary basis in September of the following year.

He will be an assistant coach at Rapid, who are currently seventh in the Austrian Bundesliga, and Thorup has also recruited former Norwich analyst Alan Arac to be part of his backroom team.

In a statement, Rapid have "warmly welcomed" Shulberg to the club and state he is the first Englishman to join the club's coaching staff in 100 years.

Former Cardiff and Southampton player Stanley Willmott worked with legendary Rapid boss Dionys Schonecker during the 1925-26 season.