Norwich City old boy David Marshall has warned his Cardiff team-mates they need to silence the Carrow Road roar ahead of his first return visit.

Marshall made 105 appearances for the Canaries prior to joining the Bluebirds for an undisclosed fee in the wake of City’s relegation to League One back in 2009.

The 25-year-old was an unused substitute in Cardiff’s 3-1 home win in October over Paul Lambert’s side – but Marshall is under no illusions what lies in store for the Welsh title contenders this weekend.

“It’s nice to go back to my old club but all the more so because they are flying and this is a big game for us and I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “Norwich have done unbelievably well since coming up and really there is no pressure on them. I think they can have a big say in what happens this season.

“This is a big, big game for us and one where we need to get back to winning ways and get on a good run again in the league. The fans are always behind them. You know that when you go to Norwich – it is a great atmosphere – but we have to deal with that and the first 15 minutes we want to try and keep the fans quiet by us keeping the ball and trying to frustrate Norwich. No doubt about it, it’s a difficult place to go and all the more so when they are playing well.”

Marshall knows Cardiff need to up their game to end a run of four consecutive away league defeats that has put the brake on an early-season promotion charge.

“Everyone has a bad period but ours seems to have lasted a bit longer, but it has been a difficult time,” he said. “Even QPR have had a bad spell and we are only five points behind the leaders. With the players here and the ones we brought in people expected Cardiff to pull away, but it’s a tough league and a lot of games so you expect ups and downs.

“Obviously after losing the play-off final it was going to be hard because that was a massive disappointment. The first couple of weeks in pre-season were tough mentally a little bit but the start we got helped and a lot of that is down to the gaffer.”

Marshall beleives City’s own boss and former Celtic team mate Lambert is the right man to bring the good times back to Norwich.

“He has done a great job there because when he took over the club are in League One and things after relegation were pretty grim but to win the league and have them in the top six in the Championship says it all really,” he said. “He was at Celtic and maybe picked up a few things about the management game, but he has gone out on his own and put that into practice. It’s good to see because Norwich is a big, big club and they are definitely good enough to be up around the top of the Championship competing for promotion.”

Marshall is looking forward to one reunion in particular.

“Simon (Lappin) is the only one I would keep in touch with now although I know Wes (Hoolahan) and a few others,” he said. “It’s not just the players, the backroom staff has changed totally as well. We had a lot of loan boys when I was there and it was a struggle.

“But I was delighted to see Simon getting a new contract when it came up on Sky the other day. I don’t know why one or two other managers didn’t fancy him because he is a good player but he stuck at it and managed to turn things around under Paul Lambert.”