Dean Smith is warning his new Aston Villa players they face a stiff test at Carrow Road.

Smith enjoyed his tussles against Daniel Farke at Brentford last season, with honours even in the Championship and City prevailing in the League Cup at Griffin Park.

The boyhood Villa fan got off to a winning start against Swansea City at the weekend, but knows the Canaries are on the up.

'It will be a tough game. They are a footballing team. We had two tough games against them when I was at Brentford,' he said.

'Daniel has got them playing really good. They are fairly fluid in their movement and they have some very good players.

'They are sat in the play-off spots at the moment so they have started the season reasonably well.

'Hopefully we can go and put in the performance because, as I always say, it's the performance that usually gets the result.

'The players have recovered well, trained well and let's see them go and put in another performance now at Carrow Road.'

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Smith, speaking to Villa's official site, insisted there is plenty of room for improvement after edging past the Swans in front of a sold out Villa Park.

'I want us to retain the ball better. I thought that was, at times, a little bit sloppy,' he said.

'But I'd also want us to make use of the turnovers, too, a lot more than we did. From the opportunities we could have created a lot more big chances, which puts the game out of reach for the opposition. That's something we have to get better at.

'But also we need to keep our energy levels. When we feel there's a time to rest, we go and rest on the ball.'