Brandon Williams is relishing his battle with Dimitris Giannoulis for the starting left-back spot in Norwich City's side.

The Manchester United loanee has started all four matches under new head coach Dean Smith and was one of the brighter performers in City's 3-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

Giannoulis is keeping him on his toes and made a crucial contribution during the midweek draw with Newcastle United, crossing for Teemu Pukki to score an equaliser in a 1-1 draw.

Both men have played at different points during the 15 Premier League matches to date.

Williams does seem to be more comfortable from a defensive perspective but his right-footedness creates an imbalance down the left-hand side. Giannoulis lacks the stability at the back but is a capable ball-carrier and effective in attacking situations.

With Williams ineligible to feature against his parent club Manchester United next weekend, Giannoulis looks likely to be recalled after having a watching brief at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The Greek international will view that as an opportunity to stake his claim after watching Williams start 10 of the last 13 top-flight matches.

Irrespective of the on-pitch battle, Williams is pleased he has somebody with the quality that Giannoulis possesses to push him harder every day in training and in matches.

"Me and Dimi are really close. Maybe if I didn’t have someone like that to feed off then my levels would drop off," Williams admitted after City's 3-0 defeat to Tottenham.

“It’s why I came here. I wanted regular game time to learn and to get the experience. I’m getting that and I just want to keep improving.

“I wanted to get this run of games and I needed after a spell out of the team."

Williams joined Norwich in the summer hoping of nailing down a starting berth in defence.

He seems to have the edge over Giannoulis in the mind of City head coach Dean Smith at present. Williams remains confident that the overall aim of survival will be achieved this season.

“We’ve just gone on a four-game unbeaten run and nobody expected us to do that.

“We can’t win every game and now we need to move on, look at this game and move on to the next one."

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