Preston and Stoke supporters will wince at the mention of Norwich City legend: View | OneFootball

Highlights

There won’t be many teams who have faced Norwich City that haven’t seen Teemu Pukki put the ball in the back of their net in the previous five campaigns.

The Finnish star was a regular on the scoresheet during his time at Carrow Road, with 88 goals in his 210 appearances for the club before departing for Minnesota United in the MLS last summer.

The former Celtic man would always fancy his chances of grabbing a goal when he turned out in the yellow and green, but even moreso once he saw Preston North End or Stoke City were the opposition.

With five goals in six matches against both of those sides, the striker can cite the duo as his most favoured opponents during his time in England, and the pair would have been breathing a sigh fo relief once he made the move across the Atlantic last July.

Teemu Pukki goalscoring record against Preston North End and Stoke City

Pukki was seen as hot property when he made the move to East Anglia in 2018, having been a regular goalscorer for Brondby in the Danish top flight, and wasted no time in recreating his form in the English game with six goals in his first ten matches for City.

Of course, North End were one of the first to experience the feeling of the Finn powering home an effort against their side; something that would become all too familiar over the next few years.

An arrowed finish opened the scoring in a 2-0 win at Carrow Road in just his fifth appearance for the club, with Canaries fans already starting to be won over by a player who would turn out to be their main hitman for half a decade.

Even though he was a regular on the scoresheet, Pukki didn’t always have his own way against the pair though, with his next strike against the Lilywhites a late consolation in a 3-1 defeat at Deepdale, while his only goal against Stoke in his debut EFL year was in a 2-2 draw away from home.

The striker had already made himself known as one of the most prolific forwards in the land though, as Norwich’s return to the Premier League was much in part to his 30 goals for the club in his first season in England.

With an immediate return to the second tier confirmed after a tough Premier League season, Pukki continued where he left of in 2020/21, with his first goal of the new campaign coming against the side from Lancashire once again, this time in a 2-2 draw at Carrow Road.

Preston got away lightly compared to the Potters that year, with the Finn finding the net four times across his two encounters with the side in red and white, with a brace in both the home and away meeting between the two sides as he rediscovered his form in the second tier.

They’re the sort of goals you associate with Pukki throughout his time in English football; ball played through to him as he bears down on goal, he either a) fires in an unstoppable drive that leaves the goalkeeper with no chance, or b) rounds the shot-stopper to tap into an empty net.

Chuck in the odd spot-kick for good measure, and you’ve got yourself a 28-goal haul that was once again enough to earn the Canaries top flight football, leaving Preston and Stoke with their biannual year of respite.

Pukki ends Norwich City career with Preston North End brace

With another Premier League relegation confirmed, Pukki once again went to work on breaking down Championship defences last season, in what would prove to be a farewell tour of the grounds he had come so used to grabbing a goal or two in recent seasons.

A 14-goal showing over the course of the campaign was below-par for what we had come to expect to him once he returned to the EFL, but he still managed to make his mark against one of his old familiar foes, with North End having the honour of conceding the last of Pukki’s goals on English soil.

Even as the years went on the Finn always knew where the back of the net was, and so it proved last January at Deepdale, as he latched onto a loose ball in the penalty area to break the deadlock, before a sensational solo effort to round off the scoring late on.

Even with his final goal of a glory-laden Canaries career Pukki was delighting the travelling fanbase; with his tenacity to chase down a long ball upfield, before bamboozling Manchester United loanee Alvaro Fernandez with some neat footwork to score his 88th goal for the club.

It was typical Pukki; gritty and full of hunger, with a touch of class to finish it off. He made the bruising and outmuscling of defenders an art form, and Norwich regularly profited from the letting the craftsman work his magic.

Preston and Stoke almost seemed too happy to oblige at times, and will be thanking their lucky stars they don’t have to come up against the pugnacious poacher anytime soon.