Having produced a fine performance to beat Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday, Alex Neil believes Norwich City are in the hunt for promotion.
The Canaries were amongst the early season favourites for the Championship having lost their place in the Premier League just last season, but a poor run of results in November saw them lose pace with the chasing pack. An early FA Cup elimination at the hands of League One side Preston North End proved the final straw for manager Neil Adams, who handed in his resignation.
Mike Phelan and even previous boss Chris Hughton were touted as potential successors for the position, but the Carrow Road club instead caused a surprise by appointing Neil. The 33-year-old began his rein with an impressive 2-1 win at high-flying Bournemouth, after which they have gone on to win four of their next six matches, losing just once against Brentford last month.
Their latest victory was a 2-0 success over Wolves, who they lost to on the opening day of the season, which was earned by goals from Bradley Johnson and Lewis Grabban. This resulted has lifted Norwich into sixth place, which would result in a playoff position at the end of the season, and whilst Neil insists he is not interested in the table at the moment, he knows his side are in the mix.
“I’m not too interested about moving into the top six,” he said. “The stat I’m really interested in is that we have now won five out of seven, and that is good form in anybody’s book. We are now in a position where we are right in the pack and could afford a slip-up but obviously we are not thinking like that. We go to Watford next, which is another tough one, but we’ll be looking to win it.”
