Dean Smith expects Norwich City's game against Arsenal to go ahead on Boxing Day and feels the spirits have lifted in the Canaries camp as some players return to the fold.

While a nervous wait for the latest number of Covid-19 tests goes and players including Mathias Normann, Grant Hanley, Milot Rashica and Andrew Omobamidele won't be available due to injury, the available City players have a tough job on their hands.

Arsenal will arrive feeling confident after three successive wins moved them up to fourth, so with Josh Sargent, Christos Tzolis and Pierre Lees-Melou all back in training in recent days, Smith hopes to see the players that are available united against adversity for struggling City.

“I think the atmosphere a couple of days after the Aston Villa game was a little bit low because we didn’t play very well and we felt we’d thrown points away in two home games," said the Norwich boss at his Christmas Eve press conference.

“We performed really well against Manchester United and should have got something out of it (losing 1-0) and then didn’t perform so well against Aston Villa (losing 2-0).

“But as I’ve said, on reflection and in hindsight, I can take responsibility for that because we never really were going at Villa at full tilt, with the players that we would have liked to be going at full tilt.

“But the Manchester United game, we all came out of that really buoyant and I’ve spoken to the players about that game, accepting responsibility for Villa, and the last three days there’s been a real lift in the camp again.

“We’ve got some players back from illness, some players back on the training ground, so that has certainly lifted the mood.”

Smith couldn't provide definite numbers ahead of the match, after the latest round of PCR tests, but it looks likely the game will go ahead.

The Premier League's basic guidance is that if 13 outfield players and one goalkeeper are available, from the players registered in the official 25-man first-team squad, then games will not be postponed.

“On the training pitch today, I would expect 16 or 17 players out on the training pitch, so the game goes ahead," Smith said this morning, with another training session planned for Christmas Day.

“I’m not looking to call off any game unless we have a situation where it needs to be.

“I do believe that playing two games in 48 hours is going to be very hard for us because we’ve not got players that are robust enough to do that at the minute, because of coming back from injury or previous injuries.

“So at this moment in time, I’m looking forward to the Arsenal game and the players will be as well.”

Three under-23 prospects were on the bench for the Villa game, with centre-back Jonathan Tomkinson joined by forwards Jon Rowe and Tom Dickson-Peters.

“They’ve done well in the 23s games that I’ve been watching," Smith added. "It would be remiss of me to throw them in at the moment, they’ve only trained with the first team for a week or two.

“But if needs must, if you’re ready, you’re ready. If they’re the next cab off the rank, then they’ll be in.

“We had Jonny Rowe on the bench against Villa and he’d played 90 minutes the night before, which just shows the situation we were in!”

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