Dean Smith insists an unexpected break in the relentless Championship slog can benefit Norwich City.

The Canaries' scheduled game at Burnley last Friday was postponed, before the entire weekend programme followed suit, as a mark of respect from the national game following the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Norwich were already at their north-west base, before altering their training schedule to prepare for Bristol City's visit on Wednesday.

“Our original plan was basically to go and do some set piece work at Accrington’s training ground. We just changed it to do another full training session,” he said. “Instead of doing set pieces, we had a good hour and 15 minute training block and then flew back to Norwich.

"From that point our preparation was totally about Bristol City.

“Players, in general, are very adaptable. Things can happen quickly in football. Look at the situation with Milot Rashica, and how that moved in the space of three or four days. You just have to adapt.

"We’ve had a free weekend, so it's been a bit of a breather, and it gave a few players who've had little bumps and bruises the chance to rest them. But they're all ready for this week now and two tough home games against Bristol City and West Bromwich Albion.

"We are unbeaten at home in the league and we want that to continue. We feel we're on a good run of form as well."

Smith delivered a positive injury bulletin on Tuesday around young midfielder Liam Gibbs. The 19-year-old damaged his ankle in the 1-0 away win at Sunderland last month, but is now out of a protective boot.

Dimi Giannoulis (ankle) is expected to be the first of the longer term absentees to return after the upcoming international break.

“Once the international period is over, I think we'll have a few coming back,” said Smith. “Liam is back walking now and he's out of the boot, which is a real positive sign. I don't expect him to be a long one. Dimi is probably the closest to getting back.

"I saw Isaac Hayden running with the ball (on Monday) as well. He's getting to where we want him. We talked before about maybe a practice game and the 21s have a couple of games during the international period.

"We'll judge and assess where the players are at, and whether they need some minutes. We can organise an in-house friendly as well.”

Norwich face a hectic October before another month-long shutdown to accommodate the World Cup.

"Straight after the Middlesbrough game (November 12) the lads will have a week off and then we'll go away as a team for some warm weather training," said Smith. "Then we'll come back and have a game against a Championship team we've already played and then prepare really for the first league game again."