Chris Hughton did not look like a man on the brink. There was no discernible sense the Norwich City boss was fighting for his future, simply a rock-solid belief in those under his command to deliver a result and the performance so lacking in that humbling at Manchester City. Hughton spent the first part of this week trying to move on from the debacle at the Etihad and the manager is confident there will be no residual scars on show against West Ham.

'Believe you me, when you are a player and you are on the back of a bad defeat or a bad performance it is never nice to go through the DVD again to watch where mistakes have been made,' he said. 'That is not a pleasant experience but it is part and parcel. We came in on Sunday, we showed them the DVD on the following day and then all our efforts and concentrations were on West Ham. This is something we have all been through before. It is a big blow because of the number of goals we conceded but you have to draw some things from it. On a bad day for us Manchester City I felt were outstanding. It can happen. I saw them play during the week against top opposition and score five and could have had maybe eight. It has happened to other teams who have gone on to have decent seasons.'

Fragility is not a character flaw Hughton detects within Norwich's dressing room.

'If you ask me will that knock the confidence all I would say is you can't let it affect you,' he said. 'Yes, they were hurting, but I am always very keen to close things down quickly. It wasn't just about mistakes on the goals we made, but our general game was not up to the level it needed to be. We never allowed ourselves to get into the game because we didn't have the ball for long enough periods. It was a difficult couple of days after the defeat and that is not something you want to go through as a manager or a team. We've had a good week's training and that is the good part of this game, you know there is always an opportunity to put things right.'

Hughton's critics regularly point to the respect and admiration shown towards opponents as a perceived negative trait, but there was also only a cursory nod to the visitors' threat.

'I think under Sam they are always a well organised and well-drilled team, but we really have to concentrate on ourselves,' he said. 'Our work this week is simply about how we can win the game. They have got a very good defensive record and we have to make sure we are able to get into goalscoring positions and that whatever we do up front we provide good service. Really it is less about making changes and more about the reaction. The intensity of the training has been very good and I'm quite sure knowing this group as I do we will get the right reaction.'