Midfielder Darel Russell is hoping for the right kind of R&R as his side head into two crucial games in three days which could go a long way to deciding the club's Coca-Cola Championship future.

Midfielder Darel Russell is hoping for the right kind of R&R as his side head into two crucial games in three days which could go a long way to deciding the club's Coca-Cola Championship future.

This afternoon, the Canaries make the long trip to south Wales to take on Swansea City before hosting Watford at Carrow Road on Monday afternoon.

And Russell, who has not played for a month due to a two-match suspension, a result of being sent off in the 1-0 win over Plymouth, says how the City players recover after the test against the Swans will be crucial to their chances of picking up something against the Hornets - and moving away from the danger zone at the foot of the table.

“It's extremely difficult,” said Russell of facing two games in three days.

“Just in terms of bruising and fatigue, you're body is extremely sore and it doesn't give it enough time to recover.

“It's not the day after it's the day after that, two days after, is usually the time when it starts to kick in so it's just about making sure you have to recovery and right recuperation and get as much healing in the body as possible for the Monday game.”

“Unlucky for us we've got a long trip to down to Swansea and little time to recover as well so it's a tough weekend and everyone's looking forward to it. I surely am. In a certain way I've been rested a little bit so I'm fit and fighting.”

The midfielder, who hopes to force his way back into Bryan Gunn's starting eleven, says he thinks three victories in their remaining five games should be enough to seal the Canaries' safety, but admits the Easter round of fixtures could throw up some surprises.

“There's going to be a few teams down there, it looks like, so we've most definitely got a chance of getting ourselves out of it,” he said.

“It was a disappointing result at the weekend which would have put us in a real great position, but we can't look back at that now.

“We've got to look forward to the five games we've got ahead of us. It's an important weekend ahead of us, really important, and it can be the difference of opening up a little gap or being behind a little way, so it's going to be an interesting weekend.

“I know they say 55 points is safety. We're probably looking over the 50 mark, that's what we've got to be looking for. Three wins and I think that should set us up in a good position to keep us in the Championship.

“When you find these types of situations with games you find there's weird results from the second fixture because teams are either too tired to recover or their preparation hasn't been great.

“I often find on the second game when the games are so close in succession funny results do turn up. “