Let's hope the powers that be at the Premier League are not studying the performances of Norwich City and its relegation rivals too closely.

Were they to, they could be forgiven for thinking neither City, Sunderland or Newcastle actually want to stay in the top division of English football – and decide to relegate all three of us instead.

I joke of course (that needs to be said because there's always the danger they might just read this column and agree), but in all honesty I'm struggling to remember a season where the divide between the bottom four teams and the rest of the Premier League has been so vast.

And what a shame it is to say that in a term which back in August started with so many of us hoping for a really positive outcome.

Damning evidence of the above came at various points during the Canaries' defeat against Sunderland – an experience that was every bit as dismal as the clouds hovering over Carrow Road.

At one point there must have been a succession of at least half a dozen passes, maybe more, all of which went astray. Both sides showed a lack of composure going forward (even Sunderland despite scoring three) and both sides looked poor at the back (even Sunderland despite their clean sheet).

The difference between victory and defeat for Norwich, like so many games this season, was individual errors, an inability to cope with pace on the break and a failure to finish decent attacking moves with clinical finishes.

Yet in spite of the gloom which begins this week's column – I feel no more confident we'll go down, or stay up – than I did prior to last weekend's defeat.

And that comes down to the other big reason there's such a gulf at the bottom of the league – crippling inconsistency.

Yes, teams like West Brom, Crystal Palace and Swansea have been guilty of this over the course of the season – but they always do enough to keep their heads above water and survive.

But too often Norwich, on the other hand, lurch from a performance like the 1-0 victory over Southampton, to the 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa or the 3-2 victory against Newcastle, to the Crystal Palace no show.

And all too often those one-off victories are followed by not just one, but a run of poor performances.

There will be all sorts of reasons for this, but a major one has to be that it's something endemic in the players.

Do City still possess too many of those players who are great in the Championship but not quite good enough for the next step? There's an awful lot of them around.

Those at the very top of their chosen sport have the talent and fitness to sustain top level performances.

Those who shouldn't be at that level soon get found out. I guess we'll find out which category the Norwich players fit into over the next few weeks.

What is crucial, whichever level we're talking about next season, is that Alex Neil, inset, and his team find a way to prevent such inconsistency week in and week out.

To try and be a little bit positive (apologies I'm fully aware this is all a bit gloomy so far) my previous points do bring with them some hope.

This group of Canaries players has, somewhere within them, the talent to play at this level, so maybe, just maybe, that's the Norwich we will see against Arsenal and then during what is looking likely to be a gargantuan eight days to end the season.

Similarly, perhaps Sunderland and Newcastle will choke after their own decent few weeks and we'll get to see the wrong side of their own Jekyll and Hyde characters.

There's hope yet fellow Norwich fans. We must keep on believing.