Dean Smith insists Norwich City have nothing to fear in the Premier League as he gears up for a reunion with Aston Villa and Emi Buendia.

City had to dig deep for Saturday's 1-0 Premier League home defeat to Manchester United, with six senior players sidelined through injury and Christos Tzolis testing positive for Covid.

Smith will provide the latest fitness bulletin from the camp on Monday morning, but wants no let up against his former club after a spirited outing against United.

“We have to follow it up. There is no point making a significant step and then not backing it up,” he said. “On Tuesday we have to ensure we are good against Villa but pick up the points.

“We can build on this performance but I said before I don’t want to be a glorious loser. I turned around to Shakey (Craig Shakespeare) after 75 minutes and said, ‘Wow, there is some spirit with these lads’. We know we are up against a good team but we didn’t take a backward step.

"We created moments, but we have to get better in those moments. I firmly believe if this group maintain these standards, and we will push them even more, then we can push them to keep winning games.

“We have played two of the so-called traditional top six. We dominated the game at Tottenham and didn’t take our chances and we have gone toe-to-toe with another big gun, who win the game with a dubious penalty.

"I saw one soft penalty at one end and I hoped I would see one at our end. I thought (David) De Gea made some very good saves. We are hitting the target, we are getting in good areas. We still need to keep better care of the big moments.

"We had a couple of overloads in their box in that first half and never quite picked the right pass at the end. I see a group who have great spirit but they also look like they believe now. That is a big thing for me."

Smith indicated prior to the weekend on loan midfielder Mathias Normann has an outside chance of returning for Villa after his pelvic issue. Centre backs Ben Gibson (thigh) and Andrew Omobamidele (back) also missed United's visit, and captain Grant Hanley was forced off in the first half with a damaged shoulder.

Milot Rashica (groin) joins fellow wide player Tzolis on the sidelines, along with Christoph Zimmermann who is on the way back from early season ankle surgery.