‘It’s about going out there and performing’ – City star not worried about Sunderland’s desperation for points

The 23-year-old thinks City will set up expecting a difficult match just as they would for any other Championship game but knows how important the match is for the Black Cats.

'You can't underestimate any team,' Murphy said, after his starring role in 3-1 home win over Aston Villa on Saturday. 'Villa needed to come here and get a win and it's the same with Sunderland, they need a win.

'So I think we just need to go out there and give a good account of ourselves because we want to win as well.

'If we relegate them, we relegate them, it's just about going out there and performing, putting in the same performance that we did on Saturday.'

Chris Coleman's team are seven points adrift from safety with five games left, after a 1-1 draw at Leeds, and defeat would leave them almost certain to drop into League One.

The Canaries go into the game in good heart as well, after bouncing back from a poor 4-1 loss at mid-table rivals QPR thanks to an impressive performance against high-flying Villa.

'The manager has kept the group together well the whole season,' Murphy continued. 'There have been some tough parts of the season and I think we always come out stronger.

'Everyone knew, fans players, staff knew that we weren't good enough at QPR, we knew we had to put in a good performance and everyone went out – from Angus (Gunn) to Dennis (Srbeny) – and was awesome.'

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The academy product scored a fantastic long-range goal to put City ahead and was involved in both the other goals against Villa.

'We know how good we are and this season we've struggled to get the first goal or put the ball in the net,' he added.

'(Against Villa) everything just clicked and everyone did so well. You see how all the defenders defended for their lives and the midfielders all battled well and then the forwards did what they needed to do.'