Alan Pardew admits St Mary's Stadium might not be the best place for the faint of heart this afternoon. His Southampton side were beaten by Brighton at home last Sunday - and Pardew wants to prove it was nothing more than a minor blip.

Alan Pardew admits St Mary's Stadium might not be the best place for the faint of heart this afternoon.

His Southampton side were beaten by Brighton at home last Sunday - and Pardew wants to prove it was nothing more than a minor blip.

"I am expecting a good Norwich side, for them to be confident and us to be slightly nervous after Sunday," he admitted.

"I expect our fans to be slightly nervous, but I hope they're not, as we don't need that to transfer to the players.

"They were absolutely roaring for us on Sunday and we let them down so I hope they start by roaring us on again, and hopefully our response will be better."

Southampton dropped out of the top flight with City in 2005 and then out of the Championship at the end of last season - and Pardew believes there are comparisons to be made between the two this season.

"Norwich have had a similar season to ourselves, in that they started slowly and have gradually got themselves together," said the Saints boss.

"They have a new manager who has come in and bedded in what he wants them to do. They have always had good players there.

"Their first game was a freak result in my opinion, and they play a diamond with a very good technical player in behind the strikers.

"If we play like we did on Sunday we will get well beat, but if we defend like we did at Bristol Rovers and games prior to that, then I think Norwich are going to have problems.

"You never can tell when it looks like there's going to be goals in a game, it has a tendency to turn up. I wouldn't accept 0-0, I would prefer a 5-4. I say that now, I probably wouldn't on Monday morning.

"It will be two good strike-forces on show, so both defences will have their work cut out to keep a clean sheet."