Let them worry about us, is Alex Neil's mantra as he counts down to Sunderland's crucial Premier League relegation shoot-out at Carrow Road.

Norwich can move seven points clear of the third-from-bottom Black Cats if they prevail this weekend in one of the biggest games in their modern history.

'The way I look at it is we are fighting against ourselves,' said Neil. 'We need to win games. I don't overly-concern myself with what the likes of Newcastle or Sunderland are doing. What I do know is if we don't win enough games between now and the end of the season we are not going to be able to stay in.

'The one thing we have got in our favour is points on the board. They might have games in hand but the points are there for us. I would like to think it is an advantage we have in these games against the sides around us.

'We have had some high pressure matches and the squad is in a really good place right now in terms of the belief and believing in each other. We always believed we were good enough to get ourselves out of this situation.'

Neil is adamant his boys will handle the pressure of the build up to the Black Cats' visit.

'Yes I think they can hold their nerve, although we know Sunderland is a huge game,' he said. 'No-one wants to make a mistake in these type of games and you could see that (against Crystal Palace). I wouldn't put it down to nerves for the reason we lost, you are just hoping to make that first breakthrough. Look at the West Brom game and you could argue neither team really deserved to win it but we got the goal at the right time. We were quite happy for the game to be scrappy, like West Brom.

'We wanted to be solid and nick a win. We played better against Newcastle the week before but our away form has not been as good.'