Norwich City have made three changes to their starting XI as they return to Premier League action at Brentford this afternoon.

Centre-backs Grant Hanley (groin) and Ozan Kabak (Glandular fever) miss out, with Ben Gibson returning from suspension and taking the captain's armband.

Andrew Omobamidele moves into the middle alongside Gibson and Manchester United loanee Brandon Williams comes in at left-back, with Pierre Lees-Melou also coming in for Josh Sargent in a move to a 4-3-3 shape.

Norwich arrive in west London sitting bottom of the table and already eight points adrift of safety after a 2-1 home defeat to Leeds last Sunday, having lost eight of their 10 games since promotion as champions.

Brentford, on the other hand, have already banked 12 points and enjoyed victories over Arsenal, Wolves and West Ham since going up via the play-offs.

The Bees have lost their last three as injuries have mounted but the first of those were one-goal home defeats to Chelsea and Leicester, before a more disappointing 3-1 loss at Burnley last Saturday.

Christoph Zimmermann had ankle surgery recently and is likely to miss the rest of 2021 for City, so Jacob Sorensen is on the bench as emergency centre-back cover.

Todd Cantwell is still not in consideration, with head coach Daniel Farke again saying the attacking midfielder isn’t training fully - although Cantwell played the full game as the under-23s beat Nottingham Forest at Carrow Road last month.

Sam Byram is training fully but isn’t yet ready for consideration after an absence of over 18 months.

The hosts are missing goalkeeper David Raya (knee) and defender Kris Ajer (hamstring) are out long term, with midfielder Shandon Baptiste (shoulder) and striker Yoane Wissa (ankle) not yet ready return.

French winger Bryan Mbuemo returns to the starting XI after a recent hamstring issue, alongside Ivan Toney up front, replacing Marcus Forss.

The Bees' only other change sees Vitaly Janelt replace Frank Onyeka in midfield.

- You can watch the team news break live in the video above

BRENTFORD (3-5-2): Fernandez; Jorgensen, Jansson (C), Pinnock; Canos, Jensen, Norgaard, Janelt, Henry; Mbuemo, Toney. Subs: Cox (GK), Goode, Roerslev, Stevens, Forss, Thompson, Onyeka, Bidstrup, Ghoddos

NORWICH (4-3-3): Krul; Aarons, Omobamidele, Gibson (C), Williams; Lees-Melou, Normann, McLean; Dowell, Pukki, Rashica. Subs: Gunn (GK), Giannoulis, Sorensen, Rupp, Gilmour, Placheta, Tzolis, Idah, Sargent

REFEREE: Jarred Gillett

VAR: Lee Mason

- You can follow all of the action, analysis and reaction in our NCFC Live blog