The Norwich City players have a point to prove when Crystal Palace arrive at Carrow Road tomorrow night.
City were comfortably beaten 3-0 at Palace in late December when Dean Smith was without 10 players through injury or illness, with the Eagles able to relax after a dominant first half.
With the Canaries boss now having the majority of his squad fit and firing, four wins in five matches has confidence levels surging as the battle to stay out of the relegation zone resumes following Saturday’s FA Cup win at Wolves.
“We’ve been on a good run, we’re showing good performances but we can’t take our eye off the ball, we have to work hard week in and week out,” match-winner Kenny McLean said after that Molineux victory.
“Every day we come in we have to be 100 per cent ready for that because we were very disappointing the last time we went to Palace, we need to put that right.
“We’ve a point to prove and we’ll go and try to prove that.”
The Scotland midfielder’s looping header from a Billy Gilmour free-kick earned that impressive success and the easing of injury and illness problems has allowed strong competition for places on the training pitches at Colney.
“One goal won us the game because of that work we’re doing behind the scenes, that work with the defensive unit that we’ve got,” McLean continued.
“We defend from the front, everyone knows their job exactly. We’ll analyse the team that we’re playing and where we want them to have the ball and where we don’t.
“That’s just something that we do from Monday to Friday but nobody really sees that apart from the little clips that you’ll see on social media. We work so hard to do the right things and put ourselves in the right place to go into games.
“It’s showing now because defensively we’ve been solid the last couple of games, clean sheets and things are looking good.”
Carrow Road is sure to be buzzing after the recent resurgence and McLean is looking forward to savouring that united atmosphere, having missed the 2-1 win over Everton as he isolated due to Covid-19 protocols.
“I was in the house for the Everton game so I’ve not been with the fans at Carrow Road for a while but I’m looking forward to it,” he added.
“We’ve seen them travelling in their numbers again and we know they’re going to be behind us regardless but when we’re on this run, when belief is there and there’s a bit of optimism and everyone’s pulling in the one direction - it’s going to be good on Wednesday.
“We need to put on a performance to match the support.”
- You can listen to the Pink Un Podcast preview of the Palace game in the audio player above
NCFC EXTRA: Raw reminder and a welcome sight - six things from City's win at Wolves
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