Tottenham may have been given a Boxing Day scare by Brighton but Norwich City boss Daniel Farke has been impressed by Jose Mourinho’s impact ahead of Spurs’ trip to Carrow Road.
Last season's Champions League runners-up were 14th when Mauricio Pochettino was sacked a month ago, bringing the former Chelsea and Real Madrid manager in swiftly.
Five wins in seven games has propelled Spurs to fifth in the Premier League table but four of those have been by a one-goal margin, edging Brighton 2-1 as Mourinho tries to settle a talented squad.
"Of course it's a big change when you change manager, especially with such big names, but I don't think they are in too much of a transition moment, more like they are in form, without any doubt," Farke said ahead of today's 5.30pm kick-off.
"Okay they had an unlucky loss (2-0 at home to Chelsea) but in general they are in a much better position than they were a few weeks ago and for that I expect a team full of confidence, still with many possibilities to fight for the Champions League positions.
"For that I think they will be highly motivated to add another three points under their belt. We are the underdog in this game, without any doubt, but this doesn't mean that we accept the defeat in any way.
"We will be greedy for another top class performance and hopefully we can add some points because my feeling is these lads deserve a highlight and hopefully we can add this highlight at Carrow Road."
City are without a win in six home matches and have been left frustrated by vastly improved performances not earning the deserved points in recent weeks, typified by the chances missed in their 1-0 loss at Aston Villa on Boxing Day.
They are helped by Spurs missing midfielders Moussa Sissoko and Harry Winks due to one-game bans for picking up five yellow cards, as well as forward Heung-Min Son serving a three-match suspension.
And those come as particularly welcome boosts after picking up just one point from the last six Carrow Road games, with Farke admitting his players are feeling hard done by recently.
"If I'm honest, we were already asking after a top class performance at Leicester and also a really good performance against Wolves, when we are just there with one point - to have the outcome of these three games with just one point, it feels like a joke," he admitted.
"But it is like it is, football can be cruel sometimes and unbelievably unfair. Especially because I think the main mistake (at Villa) was not in our hands.
"It's tough to take but football is the same as in life, when you have a trying period and everything seems to be against you, all the odds and fate or whatever, it's not to complain too much about fate and complain too much about the situation - you just keep on going.
"This is what we will do but it is disappointing and it is a bit like confidence killing for the players at the moment because they are there with top class performances and they don't get their well deserved reward.
"In this situation you have to not be too addicted to the result or the league position, just concentrate on the contents and topics. That's what we did, we delivered a top class away performance, so although we are disappointed with the result we can also be really proud of this performance."
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