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This may come as a shock to some of you, but we occasionally get things wrong. My prediction that Carlos Edwards would set the Premier League alight was, with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, slightly erroneous, while I'm claiming a similar prophecy in 2009 for Jordi Gomez a belated success after his perfect hat-trick the other week.
While there is still time for the arse to fall out of their season, it looks as if you can add the fate of Norwich to that pile too. Both myself and F365 editor Sarah Winterburn predicted doom for Chris Hughton's men at the start of the season, both of us fearful that Paul Lambert's departure could leave City in some serious mither.
The opening to the campaign seemed to prove us right. Norwich didn't win any of their first seven games, including 5-0, 5-2 and 4-1 shellackings, and they are one of the few teams to play QPR this season and not beat the tar out of them.
However, since Chelsea pulled their pants down at the start of October, they are unbeaten in eight, winning their four home games and drawing four on the road. It is perhaps significant that their turnaround occurred after the October international break, when Hughton, unlike many of his Premier League counterparts, had his team to himself to work with, since only a few of his men were required by their countries. A full-time switch to a 4-2-3-1 formation (they'd only used that system in away games before) has tightened Norwich up nicely, with them keeping four clean sheets and letting in only four goals since the change. That set-up also allows Wes Hoolahan (who I still refuse to believe is 30) to create behind a lone striker, to the extent that Giovanni Trapattoni has finally woken up to his talents.
They also have a shout for signing of the season in their ranks as well. Sebastien Bassong's career seemed to be going nowhere at Tottenham, sent out on loan to Wolves and behind Michael Dawson, William Gallas, Younes Kaboul and, after various movements in the summer, both Jan Vertonghen and Steven Caulker in the Spurs pecking order. However, since his transfer to Norwich he seems to be rejuvenated - they have only lost two of Bassong's 13 starts (and he went off after eight minutes of one of those), and they lost the only two games he has missed. He has formed a strong partnership with Michael Turner, brings a reassuring physical presence to the defence, has popped up with a couple of important goals and, perhaps crucially for Norwich fans, has largely kept Leon Barnett out of the first team.
The good thing about the Norwich of the last couple of months is that they have been picking up the 'shock' wins against the big boys (Manchester United, Arsenal) but have still kept their concentration enough to collect points against the sides more on 'their level'. Smaller sides will always beat title contenders, but where sides like Wolves, Hull and Blackpool have struggled in past seasons is marrying those successes with more prosaic points.
There were two key reasons why we thought Norwich would be in trouble this term, and they have combated both of them. Firstly, the departure of Lambert to pastures theoretically more prosperous hasn't had nearly as big an impact as feared. Praise should be given to Hughton, who has largely kept up Lambert's policy of signing from the lower leagues (Robert Snodgrass, Jacob Butterfield and Steven Whittaker came in from Leeds, Barnsley and Rangers), chucked in some slightly more high-profile buys in Bassong and Turner, and knitted them into a coherent unit stronger than the sum of their parts.
The second concern was how they would cope if Grant Holt couldn't sustain last season's form, as was likely. Holt has just three goals from 14 appearances this term, but it's had little effect on his side - Anthony Pilkington, Bradley Johnson, Snodgrass and Bassong have all contributed crucial goals, taking some of the pressure off Holt.
It's great being right, but sometimes it's equally nice to be proved wrong, as Hughton and Norwich are doing now. Long may it continue.
Nick Miller - follow him on Twitter
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