Alex Neil has revealed there is still time for his Norwich players to change his mind ahead of the Premier League kick-off against Crystal Palace.

The meticulous Scot has been working on a battleplan for the Eagles during pre-season, but with Youssouf Mulumbu ruled out following foot surgery there are places up for grabs in Saturday's Carrow Road opener.

'I knew my starting XI for Palace about a week ago, or at least a rough idea,' he said. 'You always approach a game with nine, potentially 10 players, that if they perform as they have been or they should then you expect them to play. That means there are always one or two places up for grabs.

'I have had an eye on Palace since before the West Ham friendly, in terms of how we go about it, who the personnel would be, but as always leading up to the game there is one or two positions when people can force themselves in.'

Neil wants his squad to embrace the challenge as they look for a winning start against the Eagles.

'We've worked really hard to get here. The latter part of last season was such a big success for us and we will approach it in the exact same manner,' he said.

'We want to get off to a good start and that means a win, however, when I first went up with Hamilton we lost the first one and then won the next seven or eight. I would settle for that, but, no, seriously Palace is important to set our stall out and show everyone what we are capable of doing. By being a new team going up you can catch some teams off guard.'