Norwich City defender Steven Whittaker insists the Canaries have it all to prove again in the Premier League.

The Scottish international is adamant the club's uplifting finish to the previous campaign following, a testing final few months merely underlined the scale of the achievement in retaining their top flight status. City finished 11th after wins over West Brom and Manchester City, but Chris Hughton's squad have already been written off again in certain quarters. Whittaker is confident the Canaries know what it takes to safeguard their Premier League future.

'You don't really want to set too many targets but obviously the first one is to stay in the league again and build from there,' he said. 'We want to try and aim as high as possible but I think all you can do is take it week by week. You can get yourself on a good run but equally it can turn and go the other way in this league. We had that last year with our ups and downs. After the great run we struggled until we managed to get the vital few wins we needed towards the end to get us safe. It was a bit tense before the West Brom game but the boys showed with that performance what they are capable of. It all came together that day and we managed to go on and do well at City on the last day.'

Whittaker believes City's productive summer recruitment drive only improves their Premier League prospects.

'You have to do that in the Premier League. You have to add to the squad and look to keep the boys already here on their toes,' he said. 'The new lads have settled in great, they have already shown their quality and I am looking forward to working with them. It will certainly freshen things up and give us even more competition for places. They've looked sharp in training and hopefullyfollowingand start to pick up some good results.'

Whittaker is part of City's Scottish contingent who also have a special Wembley date three days prior to the Premier League kick-off.

'Yeah, its been talked about a lot in Scotland and that is something we are looking forward to,' he said, with the defender joined in Gordan Strachan's latest squad by Russell Martin and Robert Snodgrass for the prestige friendly. 'It's kind of like a derby I suppose in a way and its great for the fans. I am sure the Scottish fans will travel in their numbers down to Wembley.

'It's certainly been a while but it's good for us to get another game in before the season. It gives us a chance to progress and look to push on again and pick up some good results in the (World Cup) qualifiers. We had a great result in Croatia and the boys were buzzing in the changing room after that one because that had been a long time coming. Scotland have not had a lot to cheer about of late so hopefully we can take plenty of confidence from that result into the England game.'