Time for City to stand up

Daniel Farke is confident Norwich City will rise to the challenge of a hectic spell, even by Championship standards. 

Middlesbrough’s Saturday lunchtime visit is the first of eight games inside the next month that will prove a test of endurance as much as the Canaries’ title credentials. 

Farke has many of his big hitters back for Boro but knows he will have to balance the competing demands of keeping his squad intact and continuing to pile on the league points. 

“We are not able to rotate seven or eight players from game to game. I trust my whole squad. We know the load in the Championship is unbelievable,” he said. “The toughest league in the world but we handled it two years ago and we are handling it now. I know the fixtures can be a bit strange when they are picked for television and, right now, we face three games in six days.

"Two of them are away and with long travel involved. But rather than complain if we get a poor result I would rather say it now before the matches. We accept the challenge. It is tough for the players.

"This is the situation. We want to win all the games and we will try to go for it.”