Alex Neil ready for a bumpy ride in Norwich City Premier League survival mission

Alex Neil is warning Norwich City's fans are in for a bumpy ride but the Scot is adamant the Canaries will win their Premier League survival battle.

City head to table-topping Leicester City on Saturday outside the relegation zone on goal difference after a warm weather training break to the Middle East.

Neil admits he would like a much greater margin for error but staying the right side of the cut line is all that matters.

'If we can stay up, whether it be by a point, a goal or whatever I think that would be seen as a successful season for us,' he said. 'You recognise a newly-promoted side is going to be in the bottom half of the table and any team in that area of the table right now is still in danger of relegation. You are hoping you can accumulate enough points to perhaps give yourself a bit of a gap, because every team in this league will go through a bad spell, and we know we have work to do but we have games to win.

'The bottom line is we came in last year when there was a lot of ground to make up and we got into the Premier League. The main goal this time around is to stay in the Premier League. We have been in the bottom three on two occasions and on each occasion we have got ourselves out of it again the game after. It is not as if we have been languishing at the bottom for the whole season.'

Neil was publicly backed by chief executive David McNally earlier this week as the right man to take the club forward.

'Me and David speak regularly and we are both working for the same cause so it is not a case of me needing a public endorsement,' he said. 'More importantly the players have got to stick together and the good thing with the lads we have is that will not be an issue. We have to go into the next 12 games with freedom. We need to win matches.'