Daniel Farke is keen to avoid heaping extra pressure onto Norwich City's crunch festive period.

The Canaries have picked up five league points from the last 27 available, but Brentford's visit to Carrow Road on Friday marks the start of a four-game stretch against clubs around them in the Championship table.

City head to Birmingham City on Boxing Day, before games against Burton and Millwall.

Farke is adamant the Canaries are ready for a key phase of the season, despite slipping up 1-0 at Leeds last time out.

'Yes, it is very important but at the beginning of the season we were saying the same.

'The league is so close together. You can win or lose if you are not there at 100pc or there is a mistake,' he said. 'We have shown against strong squads we can perform. But we will be respectful for these games against the teams around us.

'On this level you have to score from the situations we created (at Leeds), particularly when you play an opponent who is going for the top six. We have to work on our effectiveness.

'Our performance in Cardiff and Leeds was good, but we can be more effective; perhaps a bit more clinical in our defending.

'We gave away too many set-pieces in the first half and in two key situations we could have defended with more brutality.

'It is not the time to accuse, but to show trust and be ready for the next home game.

'We have the feeling we are really close to going on a positive run.'

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Farke has plenty of options to cope with a congested calendar now the likes of Tom Trybull, Alex Tettey and Alex Pritchard are fit and available.

'We will rotate the team during this period, perhaps not necessarily for Friday because we have nearly a full week to prepare,' he said. 'In this period we will change, 100pc, because there is so much load. We have options on the bench.

'Many players are back in the squad.

'Our performances have improved and we are creating more chances.

'The players were sat in the dressing room disappointed after the game because they know they lost one duel on a set piece.

'Yes, we are struggling to score goals at present but if we go on with this working style we will score goals and win points.'

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