Alex Neil insists Norwich City are firmly back in the Championship title race after hammering promotion rivals Watford 3-0 at Vicarage Road.

City surged into the top five, one point behind East Anglian rivals Ipswich Town ahead of Sunday's epic Carrow Road derby, with Lewis Grabban's second half brace and Cameron Jerome's 20-yard strike sinking the Hornets.

Norwich have now won six out of eight games since Neil's arrival to move within six points of current leaders Derby County.

'Any team in the top six could go on and probably win the league. I don't think anyone has taken it by the scruff of the neck,' said Neil, with City next in action at FA Cup quarter-finalists Blackburn Tuesday night. 'Other teams will be looking at us and not want to come up against us now. That is a good thing. With that comes an expectancy level and we have to be able to take that on board.

'I think we are four points from the top two but if we go to Blackburn and lose it could be back to seven.

'We need to take care of our own business, play as well as we can between now and the end and see where that takes us. The good thing from our point of view is that four or five games ago we were 12 or 13 points adrift, now we are four off an automatic spot. If that is not a carrot I don't know what is.'

'My target when I came in was to finish above seventh, where I took it on from, so that meant at least a play-off place. We were chasing our tail so it makes every game really important because you can't afford to lose ground, but we have won a few back-to-back and that has been key. We are enjoying our football.

'The last two games have been crucial. If we had not beaten Wolves we wouldn't have had that gap over them and we would have had a lot of ground in a limited time to make up. It was the same with Watford. We have an opportunity now and we must take it.'