Newcastle V Norwich at Sports Direct Arena : Match Preview

17 March 2012 15:57
Williamson: hard work will turn around form Defender Mike Williamson is confident Newcastle can re-ignite their charge for Europe by dispelling any talk of a "mini-crisis". The Magpies are without a Barclays Premier League win in four attempts and have collected only two points from the last 12 on offer. Nevertheless, they remain in sixth place, two points clear of closest chasers Liverpool, who narrowed the gap as a result of their 3-0 derby victory over Everton in midweek, 24 hours after Newcastle's narrow 2-1 defeat at Arsenal. Williamson said: "People are going to look at that and, by the standards the boys have set earlier on in the season, they are going to start calling it a mini-crisis and things like that. "But I just think in the last three or four games, the luck just hasn't been on our side. "We've worked hard, we've put as much preparation and heart into the games and we just haven't had the rub of the green, with the other night and the penalty against Sunderland, 2-0 up against Wolves, things like that. "We just haven't had that luck, but the lads have been working hard - that's what can turn it around, hard work, and that's what we've got in that dressing room." Should Alan Pardew's men manage to secure a top-six finish, it could prove enough to book them a Europa League berth for the next campaign, and that would be a massive bonus at the end of their second year back in the top flight. The fact they currently head Carling Cup winners Liverpool with just 10 games to go is a measure of how far the Magpies have come since they fought their way back into the Premier League at the end of the 2009-10 season, and Williamson admits he would readily have accepted that situation if offered it at the start of the campaign. He said: "The whole club would have settled for that." Norwich frontmen Grant Holt and Steve Morison have both made an impact in the top flight, and Williamson knows he and skipper Fabricio Coloccini could be in for an equally difficult 90 minutes. He said: "It's a very different test, but that's the fantastic thing about this league, you come up against different opposition every week and they can be just as challenging." Paul Lambert has insisted Norwich could not be declared safe until it was mathematically impossible for them to go down but dismissed fears they may be running out of steam at just the wrong time. Canaries chief executive David McNally this week claimed his side only needed four more points to be certain of Barclays Premier League survival. But manager Lambert refused to be drawn on whether breaking the magic 40-point barrier would be enough to ensure a second successive season in the top flight. "I don't know if that's going to be the margin this year," Lambert said. "Last year, you could see why, because the bottom ones were close to the mid-table teams. "This year, there's a bit of daylight and everybody's got to play everybody." He added: "When somebody tells me, 'Mathematically, you can't be caught', then you'll take it. "We've got a really healthy league and, when you look at the games that some teams have got to play, there's some really, really tough games. "We're no different. We have to try to get over that line." Norwich have taken the Premier League by storm but three defeats and a draw in their last four matches in all competitions suggest they may splutter rather than sprint to safety. That might be the effect of their players having covered more distance on the field than any other squad in the top flight. Lambert said: "They'll be tired, like any other team. "But they're loving the league at the minute and quite rightly so." The Scot was relaxed about his side's mini-slump, adding: "Crisis, isn't it? It's a major crisis! "Listen, the lads have done brilliantly. "They've been an absolute credit to the club, they give you everything they've got every week. "We've given ourselves a foothold and we're sitting not too badly. "With 10 games to go, there'll be points won and dropped all over the place." Lambert also had no fear about Norwich's latest trip to one of the major stadia of the English game. Sunday sees the Canaries travel to St James' Park to face Newcastle, something that is unlikely to faze a side that have already earned plenty of plaudits for their confident performances at Old Trafford and Anfield this season. "We've been to big grounds before," Lambert said. "We're not going to go there frightened by it - we'll go there and try to win."

Newcastle V Norwich - view commentary, squad, and statictics of the game live.

Source: PA