Paul Lambert believes Saturday's pending Premier League test at Chelsea is the perfect way to banish any lingering Carling Cup hangover.

The City boss made 11 changes for Tuesday's 4-0 home defeat against MK Dons, but Lambert will relish a daunting trip to Stamford Bridge.

'The thing that I know will come out on Saturday is they will give me everything,' he said. 'Full house, different game, different atmosphere, different pressure and a new experience – they'll be ready.

'That is how you judge the response to a defeat. On Saturday we are going to play one of the favourites to win the league, let alone anything else.

'It's something that hopefully we'll relish and give it a go. We have to concentrate on the league. It has taken us years to get here and it is the best league in the world of football. You want to do everything you can to stay in it. That isn't to say we didn't want toprogress in the cup. There is a long, long way to go but if you could tell me we'd get knocked out of the Carling Cup and we're still in the league, then I would take it.'

Lambert has ruled out any major post-mortems into the heaviest defeat of his two year reign.

'I never try to be over-analytical whether we win or whether we lose because I know the next game is on you before you know it,' he said. 'The disappointment is there and it will be for the next couple of days but you have to get over it, let it go and then it's all about how you react when you get beat.

'We've not had too many of these, but we'll take it. That was always my fear – that the club had been on an upward spiral for the last two years. We haven't had many of these so sometimes it can be a wake-up call. I'm not going to label one aspect of the performance. It was the team that didn't function. I can't blame only one department. We lose together, we win together. I've always said that. That has been my judgement.'

Dons' experienced assistant boss John Gorman held Lambert up as the perfect template for MK chief Karl Robinson in the wake of the underdogs' win. The 30-year-old Liverpudlian has guided his club to the top of League One alongside Carling Cup progress after just missing out to Peterborough in last season's play-offs.

'Karl is a good young manager and I think he has got the potential to follow in the footsteps of Paul Lambert and achieve what he has achieved over the past couple of years, hopefully with a little bit of help from myself,' said Gorman. 'We have got the team playing the sort of football we want to see and it was great to play a good Norwich side and show what we can do. The challenge now is to play like this week in, week out.

'Norwich showed us respect by fielding a strong team and we went out to try and impose our style of play on them. I think we played exceptionally well and there is no doubt we have got the makings of a very good side. We passed the ball very well, scored some good goals and in the end I thought we were quite comfortable.'

City have sold the remaining tickets of their allocation for Saturday's clash at Chelsea and will be backed by 3,000 fans at Stamford Bridge.

Tickets for the Canaries' next home game, against West Bromwich Albion on Sunday, September 11 (1.30pm), are now on sale to super members and members.

Any remaining seats will go on general sale tomorrow.