Norwich vs Sunderland preview - Lambert staying grounded

Posted Monday, September 26, 2011 by PA

Norwich manager Paul Lambert will not allow his players to believe winning in the Barclays Premier League is easy as they prepare to take on Sunderland.

The Canaries recorded a first top-flight victory at Bolton last weekend which saw them bounce back from a disappointing home loss to West Brom.

However, despite the jubilation which greeted a first away Premier League win over a spell of 17 years for the Norfolk club, Lambert - who has overseen successive promotions from npower League One - is determined to keep things in perspective.

"You can't forget where you were. If you do that then I think you are making a grave error, like thinking you have arrived and that it will be easy," Lambert said.

"It is nothing like that at all. In my own mind I know what has been achieved here."

The Norwich manager added: "I will never forget that two years ago we were in League One, and we were there for a reason - it is not a place you want to go back to.

"The football club, on and off the pitch, has moved on dramatically, which is great.

"The crowd has always been there, 25,000 every week, so that won't change, but the difference for them is that they're probably more vibrant for it, seeing a team that has been winning for the past two years, and they are in a great league."

Norwich had produced some positive displays on their return to the Premier League following six seasons in the wilderness, if without the reward of a maximum-points haul.

And Lambert accepts there has been something of a sense of relief around the squad since the Bolton game.

However, the Norwich manager is under "no illusions" of the challenge which awaits his team at Carrow Road on Monday night against Steve Bruce's established Premier League outfit.

"I am pretty sure last week will have heightened that belief, because it takes away everybody saying `Norwich haven't won`," Lambert told a news conference.

"The level of performances have been really high, and we have had games where we might have got more points than we have done.

"Now we have to try to keep the same level of performance that we have been showing of late.

"However, looking at the players Sunderland have brought in during the summer, and the players that were already there, I am under no illusions how hard this is going to be.

"They are established, more so than us, however, we are at home and the onus is on us to try and make the running."

Lambert has no fresh injury worries, and could freshen his team up after making half a dozen changes at Bolton, with captain Grant Holt pressing for a recall.

Sunderland boss Bruce will return to Norwich knowing the lesson he learnt there 27 years ago remains just as relevant today.

Bruce endured a disastrous debut for the Canaries when he scored a first-minute own goal against Liverpool on the opening day of the 1984-85 season after his move from Gillingham, but went on to pick up a winners' medal in the League Cup final that season.

The central defender spent three and a half years at Carrow Road before his form alerted Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson to his prowess, and the rest is history.

That revival of fortunes was not lost on Bruce as he contemplated his return having guided Sunderland to a 4-0 victory over Stoke last Sunday amid speculation that his time at the Stadium of Light could be drawing to a close.

He said: "In my first game for Norwich, I scored an own goal after 30 seconds - it was against Liverpool at home - and I think I scored a second own goal as well about 22 minutes later.

"I think they were calling for my head that day as well - 'Who's this clown we have bought here from Gillingham? Get him back to Gillingham'.

"Six months later, we were winning the cup against Sunderland, ironically, at Wembley.

"I had gone from the third division to playing in the first division, as it was then, so for that, I will always be grateful to Norwich.

"I had a wonderful three and a half years. I enjoyed every minute of it. We won a cup, we got relegated, we got promoted, finished fifth in the old first division, so it was a good time.

"My two kids were born there. I had a really good time, I enjoyed it immensely."

Bruce has no new problems ahead of the trip, with full-back Phil Bardsley set to serve the second game of a four-match suspension.