Norwich centre back Zak Whitbread is fit to return for this weekend's Premier League home test against champions Manchester United after his recent hamstring injury. Picture by Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd.

Paul Lambert is confident Norwich City can worry Premier League champions Manchester United

Paddy Davitt, EDP Sports Writer Friday, February 24, 2012
11:19 AM

Paul Lambert is urging his players to prove just how far they have come against Premier League champions Manchester United’s at Carrow Road this weekend.

City slipped to a battling 2-0 defeat in October’s reverse fixture at Old Trafford, but Lambert was in bullish mood at his pre-match press call as the Canaries look to prolong their impressive league start to the New Year.

“This is a fantastic game for the football club that a team of that stature is coming here in the first place to play in a competitive game,” said Lambert, on Friday morning. “They are still one of the best teams in Europe - let alone Britain. They have a chance to win the league themselves. They have been a fantastic team for a number of years. We prepare the same way we did when we went up there a few months ago. We know what we are up against. That is not to say we can’t give a good account of ourselves or try to win the game. We need the points ourselves. At the time I thought we played really, really well that day - but if you don’t take your chances against a team like that then you know what is going to happen. They can create from absolutely nothing. They have some world-class players up there, no doubt. Some fabulous footballers, (Paul) Scholes, Ryan Giggs - lads who know how to win games.”

Lambert confirmed defender Zak Whitbread is back in contention to face the Red Devils after his recent hamstring injury. Dani Ayala is still ruled out and United’s visit is poised to come too soon for Mark Tierney (groin) and Jonny Howson (knee). The former Leeds captain is now training with the rest of hs new team mates, but Lambert has yet to decide whether to involve Howson in next week’s scheduled Reserve League fixture against Wolves.

“We’ve got a few knocks and niggles but we’ve got until Sunday. They are ones carried over from the Swansea game,” he said. “Daniel is out but Zak has a chance. We’ll just see how he is. There is every chance. He has trained so hopefully he is going to be okay. Marc is doing alright now. This one may have come a little too early for him. Jonny is the same. Hopefully he’ll not be too far away. I’ll see how he is doing (for next week) but he has only done this week. He probably needs a bit more time but looking at him he is looking really good to me.”

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36 comments

pleased that" fox" is now pestering someone else,probably the Birmingham Evening News,so he's gone thank god and i thought I quite liked foxes and now a reminder of when ITFC were the bees knees and had the 2 best European midfielders in East Anglian football history.I would like to remind Kevin ,1989,of that wonderful 2 legged semi final when Stevie Bruce rose like a salmon on acid to power the header home right in front of the Barclay.We stuffed you and of course won the Milk Cup.Remember!

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Peter Watson

Saturday, February 25, 2012
Id is a very useful word in Scrabble but erewego is not accepted unless the recent dumbing downn of the Scarbble dictionary has changed that

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Pondlife

Saturday, February 25, 2012
were that id an instinctive feeling in your "mind", KB? `Erewego again. Get a dictionary for your next birthday. There are infant ones available.

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Mad Brewer

Saturday, February 25, 2012
id be very wary, were coming back, enjoy it while it lasts

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Kevin Beattie

Saturday, February 25, 2012
id be very wary, were coming back, enjoy it while it lasts

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Kevin Beattie

Saturday, February 25, 2012
Open top bus parade for staying up??

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Kevin Beattie

Saturday, February 25, 2012
4-1, 5-1, well played, no trophies though?

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Kevin Beattie

Saturday, February 25, 2012
who can forget sir alf, suppose we all love him, right? after all 1966

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Kevin Beattie

Saturday, February 25, 2012
1962 1978 1981 :)

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Kevin Beattie

Saturday, February 25, 2012
Arsenal 0 Ipswich 1 1978

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Kevin Beattie

Saturday, February 25, 2012
One Bobby Robson!!!

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Kevin Beattie

Saturday, February 25, 2012
First of all id like to congratulate you on your success.....(that was painful). But at the moment i and many others envy you at the moment. Which had me thinking as much as i do envy you, i realised that the fact of the matter is Norwich will ALWAYS be second fiddle in East Anglia. Fact. 196061, Second division (now championship) CHAMPIONS. 196162, English Champions (yes Premier league) 1978 F.A Cup Champions 1981 UEFA Cup Champions (when it was actually half decent) In between this great success there were some results that your club will never witness (bayern away) probably your only ONE. One other small thing oh yes, we have supplied OUR nation the 2 most successful managers. This is your time, well played, enjoy it but my god Ipswich Town will be back.

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Kevin Beattie

Saturday, February 25, 2012
next season is the time to worry about beating the top ten sides, we are succeeding in the second tier at our first attempt. for goodness sake enjoy the ride!

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carrow927

Friday, February 24, 2012
Really looking forward to Sunday against the Red Devils...Billie the Bee and the likes should concentrate on their homework...last time I saw MU at Carrow Road, one of their lot jumped off the roof!! OTBC..

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tom the taxi

Friday, February 24, 2012
How far have City progressed? Feb 27th 2010 - Oldham Athletic 0 City 1 [Holt 53'] infront of 5,344 hardy souls. We beat Man Utd at Carra Rud last time we were in Prem League, and it could happen again.

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Soglio Star

Friday, February 24, 2012
Lambert you need to wake up and smell the coffee !! ??????? v Man Utd ..

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Footyboy16

Friday, February 24, 2012
We have an excellent opportunity to take 3 Points off Man Utd tomorrow. I am sure the players will not need much extra motivation for this one - it is arguably the biggest and most eagerly awaited fixture of the season. In the earlier Premiership games we seemed to give too much respect to some of teh bigger teams. That respect seems to have replaced by confidence and City have had some excellent results since. We know it is going to a tough game and Man Utd have great players, but I still believe we can turn them over if we have belief. Lets see a repeat of teh last time they came here - we were bottom then, but still won 2-0 - OTBC !!

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Dubai Canary

Friday, February 24, 2012
are we Barcelona? No. Do we need to be Barcelona before we can say we've progressed, had a good season, succeeded beyond our dreams? If you need more than a split second to work out the answer to that, I'm wasting my breath. A draw tomorrow would be most satisfying.

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wurzelcanary

Friday, February 24, 2012
Let's put this game in perspective.........It isn't a MUST WIN game. If you subscribe to the 2 leagues in the premiership theory, we are top of our division. If we lose to Man Utd tomorrow.....no big deal....just as long as we do ourselves credit. If we lose to Fulham, Wigan or Blackburn, THAT becomes a potential problem.

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Algarve Canary

Friday, February 24, 2012
Usually I am confident that they will come out of the traps going all out for the win, but the FA Cup shook my confidence a little. However, if we have The Horse sufficently fed, watered and pastured then I have some hope that we can get something on the score sheet early. I think that you have to keep ManU contained and the pressure on de Gea so that he starts flapping at things. But what do I know, ILWT.

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Swiss Canary

Friday, February 24, 2012
To Billy the bookie, i believe we beat Sunderland at home this season, have a look at the table and try and work out where Sunderland are , THEY ARE 9TH, by my reckoning that is above half way but then again perhaps your brain cell doesnt stretch to working that one out . Perhaps you should engage that cell before opening your mouth . OTBC

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yellows9blues2

Friday, February 24, 2012
Preston Canary- your comments are probably the most intelligent I have ever seen on the EDP in response to a Norwich story, well said!

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The king of chins

Friday, February 24, 2012
To be honest I don't really care about the negative comments or whether or not we have beaten teams in the top half. It is interesting to think how far we have come though. We are close to a points total that will secure our Prem status for another year. In doing so we have integrated a number of new players, almost all of whom have made a positive impact on our season (some have been limited due to injury). We have spent around £15mill on players by my reckoning - more than I can ever remember us spending before. All of those players are of a good age (Morrison being the oldest at 28) and so will have a sell on value if we so decided, which would be more than we paid for them. The number of players seems like we have revolutionised our squad, but it has felt more like evolution. On top of this we have reduced our debt and are set to do so again. Are we the finished article? No, but from where we were any stat you care to look at (other than those clutching at straws) would suggest massive progress. Next steps - I for one would love a current Norwich player to break into the England set up next season.

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Preston Canary

Friday, February 24, 2012
We've done what needed to be done and that's beat the teams below us in the league. Beating the billionaires in the higher echelons of the premier league remains our challenge for future seasons when we're more established in this league. OTBC

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jharding

Friday, February 24, 2012
I don't think poor old Billy can see how far we have come, from that far down. Best to leave him in peace and to dream, I feel. From a fan's perspective (and echoed by all the pundits) the evidence is there to see and against my best expectations, we are looking like a mid-table Prem team with more savvy acquisitions likely in the summer. Every home game is a joy and if we can pick up a point against Man Utd that would be another result (although I was there for the 2-0 win last time round). OTBC!

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BureValleyPaddy

Friday, February 24, 2012
Just to remind any 1P5WICH fans out there--your dept is £60 million plus--Marcus Evans (whatever is name is )will not take a single penny untill you reach the Prem; BUT IF HE LEAVES HE HANDS THE DEPT BACK TO YOU.

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superfan59

Friday, February 24, 2012
How far we have come Billy?? LMFAO Ok... 6 Aug 2009 Norwich Last in League 1 close to administration - Ipswich 1st in Champ'ship, finances unknown. 8 May 2010 Norwich League 1 Champions - Ipswich 15th in Champ'ship 7th May 2011 Norwich Automatic Promotion to the Premiership - Ipswich 13th in the Champ'ship with a 4-1 and 5-1 smashings from us home and away. hahahahaha 25th Feb 2012 Norwich 8th in the Premiership playing Man Utd, financially secure - Ipswich 16th in the Champ'ship playing Brighton, nearly broke. How far have we come?? Need I say more, how for have Ipswich come? Hmmmmm Lets all Laugh at 1p5wich! hahahahahahahahahahahahaha

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Carls421

Friday, February 24, 2012
How far we have come Billy?? LMFAO Ok... 6 Aug 2009 Norwich Last in League 1 close to administration - Ipswich 1st in Champ'ship, finances unknown. 8 May 2010 Norwich League 1 Champions - Ipswich 15th in Champ'ship 7th May 2011 Norwich Automatic Promotion to the Premiership - Ipswich 13th in the Champ'ship with a 4-1 and 5-1 smashings from us home and away. hahahahaha 25th Feb 2012 Norwich 8th in the Premiership playing Man Utd, financially secure - Ipswich 16th in the Champ'ship playing Brighton, nearly broke. How far have we come?? Need I say more, how for have Ipswich come? Hmmmmm Lets all Laugh at 1p5wich! hahahahahahahahahahahahaha

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Carls421

Friday, February 24, 2012
Same old problem with ipswich supporters coming on here!!Any genuine canary supporter will realise how far this club as come in three years!!Not too have beaten anyone in the top half of the table matters very little!!Just look at our league position for anyone with doubts about this football club!!

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beach cafe

Friday, February 24, 2012
why dont certain people look at the bigger picture and see we have come from.div one to premiership in two years with players acquired from lower leagues,and more than holding their own.dosnt the bookie realise that those top teams have spent millions on their players.

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bluelight

Friday, February 24, 2012
You mean just like we worried Leicester ?

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superfan59

Friday, February 24, 2012
I'm not too concerned about worrying them, I would be happy the play well and beat them! OTBC

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kevin

Friday, February 24, 2012
Mission accomplished Billy, you've stirred everyone up again,

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jharding

Friday, February 24, 2012
Beautifully said Songman. OTBC!! x

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CANARY-CRUISE-GIRL

Friday, February 24, 2012
From the bottom of League one to eighth in the premier.. do you need me to do the maths for you Billy?

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Songman

Friday, February 24, 2012
What a crass comment from Billythe braindead...i will not insult anyone elses intelligence by stating how far we have come in relation to where we were. What are you expecting? Losing 7-1 in Division 1 straight to the Champions League? errr...

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smalltownboy

Friday, February 24, 2012