Norwich City boss Chris Hughton insists the Canaries are working overtime to find the cutting edge which will secure their Premier League future.

City's latest 0-0 home draw against Southampton was their third goalless affair in the last five league games at Carrow Road during a spell where Hughton has permed Grant Holt, Kei Kamara and Luciano Becchio in a bid to unlock Norwich's scoring potential.

Holt still leads the way with five league strikes in a campaign where only QPR have scored fewer Premier League goals than the Canaries approaching the final run-in.

'I can't say that we have been brilliant in front of goal because, although we scored two in the Everton game, the statistics haven't shown that,' said Hughton. 'But we are working hard on it. In the last two home games, I have played two up front to try to get those opportunities and against Everton we scored twice.

'We create chances, probably not as many as we would like. Anybody watching the (Southampton) game, even if our play wasn't as fluid as we would have liked, could see we were playing two up front and that is an indication that we are endeavouring to try to get goals.

'It is not a question of us not wanting to score goals and just making ourselves solid and a tough team to beat.

'We played with two wide players and two up front, which is an indication that we are trying to win. Is it an area we have found difficult? Yes it is. For us and a club of our stature it is difficult to get those balances right.'

Norwich midfielder Robert Snodgrass revealed Hughton has urged the Canaries to be more ruthless at the sharp end of the pitch.

'That's what the gaffer is saying, be more ruthless. I think in certain phases we are creating chances,' he said. 'At Swansea we scored three in the first half. Those days come – we've not had that many this year – we scored three against Manchester City as well, but we can look at it in all different ways.

'The most important thing is picking up more points. We can talk about scoring as many goals as you want but you saw a few years back at Blackpool, they were scoring goals all over the place and got relegated. The main aim is to stay in the Premier League.'

Norwich's defensive resolve has kept them clear of the bottom three for the majority of the season and Hughton believes the Southampton shut out could be another big step in the right direction ahead of trips to Sunderland and Wigan.

'What was important was if we couldn't win then make sure a club around us didn't get the three points,' he said.

'That's important. We have got a good home record. We have lost only three league games at home all season – to Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City – so there are lots of positives and there were positives in this game.

'We just need to make sure that we are focused going into the next two away games to give ourselves an opportunity to get something.'