Tim Krul is ‘excited’ about the progress Norwich City have made recently but has assured Canaries fans that Daniel Farke’s squad know they have a huge amount of hard work ahead if they are to be successful.

The Canaries completed an eventful opening quarter of the Championship campaign in third place and with 21 points from a possible 33 after extending an unbeaten run to seven games with a 1-0 home win over Swansea.

That was sealed by City’s fifth late winner of the season though and the Holland international is not getting carried away with positive signs of the Premier League relegation hangover being shaken off.

“We haven’t outclassed teams or beaten teams, 3-0, 4-0 or 5-0,” said Krul. “I think we’re creating enough, Millwall I reckon we should have beaten 2-0 or 3-0, but that’s this league (drawing 0-0).

“We have to stay humble, work hard, we’re only 11 games in so we’ve still got lots of work to do but we’re allowed to be excited at the moment.”

The 32-year-old earned his 10th and 11th international caps during the past fortnight, during a 3-1 home win over Bosnia & Herzegovina and a 2-1 win in Poland in the Uefa Nations League.

The busy start to the campaign continues with a trip to in-form Middlesbrough on Saturday and to Stoke on Tuesday, two teams just outside of the play-off places, as a hectic schedule of 12 games in six weeks begins.

“The schedule is crazy at the moment but we all know what to do,” the Canaries number one continued. “We’re taking it head on and we’re so excited that the confidence is there as well now.

“We don’t have to be afraid of any team in this league. We are the only ones who can beat ourselves at the moment.”

City have managed to keep building momentum despite several injury issues, demonstrating their strength in depth.

“The journey was started a couple of years ago with this staff and this group, and the players that we’ve added I think have improved the team,” the former Newcastle keeper continued.

“I think we’ve got a better squad this year than we did last year, I really believe that, and there are some exciting talents.

“Bali (Mumba) looks like he’s been playing for us for a couple of years, he is such an exciting young talent, and young players like Josh Martin coming in and adding that bit of excitement and hopefully we can break teams down. It’s exciting, it really is.”

The encouraging form is all the more impressive with players having to find extra motivation while the season continues behind closed doors - but Krul says fans are never far from the players’ thoughts.

“It’s still obviously not ideal but you’re getting more used to it now because it’s been so long,” he said. “It helps when you’re winning!

“The results are there, it’s nice to look at the league again, you try not to look too much, by January 1 maybe, because the next few months are going to be manic and we need to get through them.

“But exciting times for everyone and the biggest thing for the fans at home is to have a bit to smile about, that’s something we’re trying to do as a team and something we keep saying in the changing room.

“There’s a lot of people, even though there’s no one here, there’s thousands of people who are watching and listening, and we need to give something back.”