Jacob Murphy aims to prove the best is yet to come this season as he closes in on his goals target.

The exciting wide player has had a breakout campaign at Norwich City but the 21-year-old is in no mood to rest on his laurels.

Murphy notched his eighth of the season in Tuesday's 2-2 league draw against Newcastle after emerging as Alex Neil's first choice down the right flank.

'I got 10 last season. The target this time around was 10 so once I get that I can set another target,' he said. 'You can't just rely on your forwards. Goals have to come from elsewhere and I think I can add that to this team. You can always improve on every aspect of your game. I could have scored more goals. Some might say I need to work on the defensive aspect. I am 22 next week so I need to be playing at a big club like Norwich. Both myself and Josh knew we had to start pushing and cementing our place in the first team. I feel we have done that.

'I have played a lot minutes so far, a lot of starts and I am happy with my progress. Hopefully I can keep progressing with this club. I was probably too young to force my way in before and I needed the experience from several loans, but I was ready for it this season. I always backed my ability and I knew I could come in and do a job. You look at it now, we have Josh and Pritch (Alex Pritchard) and Yanic (Wildschut), there is good competition. Sergi (Canos) came in and then left and I thrived on that when he signed last summer.'

Neil has been keen to protect Murphy in recent weeks after a heavy workload in City's Championship promotion bid.

'It can be intense,' he said. 'We have had something like five games in 15 days. The manager spoke to me and said he was going to drop me out, which mentally allows you to have a breather and come back ready. I felt fresher and you know whoever comes in can do a job. I think I have matured to the point now where I understand there will times when I have be rested for the good of the team. That is part of it. You know if you work hard your chance will come back around. I think going out on loan I had to really learn a lot about working without the ball. Coming back here, the manager always places a big emphasis on forward players getting back in and doing their defensive work and there is a big onus on that in the modern game.'