Norwich City head coach Dean Smith has made six changes to his side for the Canaries' crunch Championship fixture against Stoke City this afternoon.

Sam Byram, Ben Gibson, Kieran Dowell, Aaron Ramsey, Onel Hernandez and Liam Gibbs come in for the hosts at Carrow Road, as Smith looks to arrest a run of six winless games.

Byram starts in place of Max Aarons after returning to training this week. He had been struggling with a hip injury but trained fully ahead of the game.

Also returning is Kieran Dowell, who missed the recent defeats to Luton, Sheffield United and Burnley with Laryngitis, but returns to the City line-up for today's fixture.

He's joined in midfield by Liam Gibbs, who had seen his role at the base of it taken by Isaac Hayden but joins the summer signing there this afternoon.

Ben Gibson also returns from injury having felt a stiffness in his knee ahead of the Burnley game, replacing academy graduate Jonathan Tomkinson at centre-back.

Aaron Ramsey and Onel Hernandez start in place of Gabriel Sara and Todd Cantwell, who drop to the bench. Also omitted from the XI after starting on Tuesday are Marcelino Nunez and Josh Sargent, who is ruled out with a calf injury.

Kenny McLean serves the final game of his three-match suspension today, after the Canaries' appeal of his red card against the Hatters was rejected.

He misses out alongside Andrew Omobamidele, whose ankle injury is expected to keep him out until after November's World Cup break, Adam Idah (knee), Jonathan Rowe (shin) and Jacob Sorensen (foot).

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Norwich City (4-2-3-1): Gunn; Byram, Hanley, Gibson, McCallum; Hayden, Gibbs; Dowell, Ramsey, Hernandez; Pukki. Substitutes: Krul (GK), Aarons, Hugill, Cantwell, Sara, Nunez, Tomkinson.

Stoke City (4-2-3-1): Bursik; Clark, Wilmot, Jagielka, Fox; Laurent, Baker (C); Brown, Smallbone; Fosu; Gayle. Substitutes: Bonham (GK), Flint, Thompson, Delap, Powell, Wright-Phillips, Sparrow.