Dean Smith: Taking Norwich job is not a risk

New Norwich City manager Dean Smith believes his side should not be written off as relegation certainties, as he attempts to guide them away from the bottom of the Premier League.

The Canaries sit rock bottom and are already five points adrift of safety, but with plenty of the season remaining, Smith will be keen to oversee a huge turnaround.

Smith joins having been sacked by fellow PL strugglers Aston Villa only two weeks ago.

Norwich did win their first match of the season before the international break, defeating Brentford 2-1 in a match that brought them back within relative touching distance to safety.

It was after that win that Norwich decided to part ways with Daniel Farke, but the Canaries new manager is confident he can keep the club in the top flight.

“We’ve got 27 games left in the Premier League, so there’s a lot of points to play for and we’re just on the back of a win.”

Norwich’s next game poses a decent opportunity for the club to make it two wins on the bounce, as they face Southampton.

Currently the odds may be in the Saints favour, but with a betting offer from free-bets.uk.com, it may be a good time to back Norwich, should they receive the famous ‘new manager bounce’.

Talking about the clubs season so far, Smith said: “I’ve seen how progressive this club has been.

“Yes, it’s been difficult in the Premier League so far. Mine and Craig [Shakespeare’s] job, along with the rest of the staff and Stuart [Webber], is to keep us in the league this season and that’s firmly what we believe we can do.

“We’ve got a great belief that we can get as many points as we can in 27 games to stay in this league and I believe the squad is capable of doing that.

“The club got their first win away at Brentford in their last game and we can build on that confidence that the players should’ve got from that.

“I think there is enough quality [in the squad]. I’ve looked at the squad with Craig [Shakespeare] and we both believe it’s a squad that probably isn’t producing the results they need.

“Our job is to improve their performance levels, if we do that then we’ll get the results.”